CHURCH  PAPERS. 


SUNDRY   ESSAYS 


ON  SUBJECTS  RELATING  TO 


THE  CHURCH  AND  CHRISTIAN  SOCIETY. 


BY 


LEOIf ARD  WOOLSET  BACOIf. 

GENEVA,  {Switzerland.) 


NEW  YORK!  LONDON) 

G   P.  PUTNAM'S  SOXS.  TRUBNER  &  CO. 

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CHURCH  PAPERS. 


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SUNDRY  ESSAYS 


ON  SUBJECTS  RELATING  TO 


THE  CHURCH  AND  CHRISTIAN  SOCIETY 


BY 

LEOHARD  WOOLSEY  BACOH. 

G ENJK  VA ,  ( Switzerland) . 


NEW  YORK:  LONDON! 

G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS.  rRtrBNP:R  &  CO. 

187  7- 


IN     PREPARATION 


BY    THE    SAME    AUTHOR, 


THEOLOGICAL    PAPERS. 

INCLUDING   AMONG    OTHBKS  : 

A  Method  of  Theology. 

An  Inductive  Study  of  the  Inspiration  of  the  Scriptures. 
False  Definitions  of  Faiths  and  the  True  Definition. 
Effects  of  a  false  Definition  of  Faith  in  Religious  and 

Dogmatic  History, 
Prayer  ,  Miracle  and  Natural  Law  :  —  A  Metaphysical 

answer  to  a  Physical  Objection. 
The  Natural  Theology  of  the  Spleen  :   or  the  Doctrine 

OF  God  in  the  Methods  of  Science. 

TOGETHEK    WITH    SUNDKY 

SERMONS  OF  AN  UNSUCCESSFUL  PREACHER. 


TO 

THE  BEAUTIFUL  AND  HOLY  MEMORY 

OF  MY  DEAR  BROTHER, 

George  Blagden  Bacon, 

PASTOR  OF  THE  VALLEY  CHURCH 

who,  prom  his  successful  labors  in  the  service  of 
Christ's  whole  church, 

entered  into  his  master's  joy 

SEPTEMBER  15, 

1876. 


[.WITHDRAWN 


^^ 


CONTENTS. 


PREFACE 


ARTICLES  PERTAINING  TO  THE  NATURE 
OF  THE  CHURCH. 

I.  The  Fundamental  Fallacy  of  Current  Congrega- 
tionalism   1 

II.    Five  Theories  of  the  Church 18 

III.  Church,  Parish  and  Benevolent  Society 42 

IV.  Confessions  of  a  High  Churchman 73 

IRENICAL    LETTERS. 

V.  Is  Schism  a  Necessity?  An  Open  Letter  to  the  Right 
Rev.  A.  C.  Coxe,  D.D.,  Bishop  in  Western  New- 
York 101 

VI.    How  to  Avert  a  Schism.   A  Letter  addressed  to  the 

Archbishop  ot  Canterbury,  at  his  Grace's  request.  12(5 

A  CONTRIBUTION  TO  THE  ROMAN  CATHOLIC 
CONTROVERSY. 

VII.  How  the  Rev.  Dr.  Stone  Bettered  his  Situation.  An 
Examination  of  the  Assurance  of  Salvation  and 
Certainty  of  Belief  to  which  we  are  affectionately 
invited  by  His  Holiness  the  Pope 134 


Vi  CONTENTS. 


ESSAYS  IN  CONTEMPORARY    ECCLESIASTICAL 
HISTORY. 

VIII.  The  Catholic  Reformation  in  Switzerland  ....  169 

IX.  Catholic  Reform  in  Northern  Switzerland  ....  204 

X.  The  Fourth  Old  Catholic  Congress  ;  Freiburg,  1874  224 

XL  Christian  Union  at  Bonn       230 

ARTICLES   PERTAINING   TO   THE   RELATION    OF   THE 
CHURCH  WITH  MODERN  SOCIETY. 

XXL     CHURCH  AND  CIVIL  LAW. 

On  Forcing  Jesus  to  be  King:  A  Sermon  against 
State  Interference  with  Religion,  and  in  favor 
of  the  Sundaj'  Laws 237 

XIII.  CHURCH  AND  THEATRE. 

A  Sermon  on  Theatres  and  Theatre-going  .     .     .  255 

XIV.  CHURCH    AND    TEMPERANCE. 

The  Mistakes  and  Failures  ot  the  Temperance 
Reformation 275 

XV.     THE   OPPROBRIUM   OP   ENGLISH    LAW. 

A  Sermon  against  the  Public  Crime  of  the  Dere- 
liction of  Legislation  for  the  Protection  of  the 
Family 327 


PREFACE. 


It  is  neither  the  request  of  friends  nor  the  demand  of  the  public 
that  induces  me  to  print  these  Church  Papers  in  a  volume.  The 
public  has  taken  a  transient  interest  in  some  of  them,  as  they 
have  appeared  in  various  periodicals,  and  has  promptly  forgotten 
them.  As  for  ray  friends,  I  must  do  them  the  justice  to  believe 
that  if  they  had  been  consulted  they  would  general!}^  have  agreed 
in  advising  me  to  save  my  money  for  some  better  use  than  printing 
a  book  which  nobody  will  buy,  which  very  few  will  read,  and 
which  hardly  any  one  will  approve. 

I  may  as  well  confess  to  myself  that  it  is  these  very  consi- 
derations that  induce  this  publication.  With  a  most  willing 
heart  for  any  the  humblest  work  that  may  present  itself  to 
rae  as  a  minister  of  Jesus  Christ,  I  find  no  way  of  service  open 
to  me,  nor  any  near  likelihood  of  any.  In  my  unwilling  seclusion, 
therefore,  I  have  decided  to  put  some  of  my  thoughts  on  the  social 
relations  of  Christianity  into  such  a  shape  that  they  may  reach 
the  eye,  not  of  the  public — that  is  beyond  my  hopes — but  of  some 
of  those  whose  high  privilege  it  is  to  speak  to  the  public  and 
be  heard. 

As  I  glance  over  the  file  of  proof-sheets,  I  regret  the  things 
left  out.  I  wish  I  could  add  a  page  or  two  to  Article  II,  concerning 
the  Historic  Unity  of  the  Church,  and  the  Succession  of  Authority  in 
its  Ministry.  I  wish  that,  out  of  the  depth  of  a  very  painful  experience, 
I  could  add  something  of  tender  earnestness  to  the  appeal,  in 
Article  Y,  against  the  wickedness — the  unconscious  wickedness — 
of  a  policy  of  wanton  schism.  I  wish  I  could  re-state  the  substantial 
arguments  of  Articles  IV  and  YII  in  a  more  plain  and  sober  form, 
for  the  benefit  of  those  who  cannot  see  a  grave  thought  under  a 


nil 


PREFACE. 


satiric  surface.  And  I  wish  I  could  give,  in  a  postscript  to  the  articles 
on  the  Old  Catholic  movement,  a  fuller  statement  of  reasons  for 
giving  up  my  earlier  hopes  of  some  useful  religious  result  from 
that  enterprise. 

I  wish  withal  that  I  could  have  added  some  guards,  here  and 
there,  against  being  misunderstood.  But  it  is  vain  to  hope  against 
that  misfortune.  And  who  knows  but  the  papers  may  do  as  much 
good  taken  in  a  wrong  sense  as  in  a  right  one  ?  (think  of  the 
edification  that  has  been  got  out  of  Bible  texts  by  false  exegesis !) 
And  perhaps,  after  all,  the  book  is  not  of  as  much  consequence, 
any  way,  as  I  love  to  imagine.  Only  it  seems  to  me  that  I  have 
here  some  grains  of  good  seed  of  the  kingdom  of  God ;  and  I  may 
not  hide  it  longer  in  my  bosom.  So,  lest  it  abide  alone,  I  cast  it 
abroad  to  die;  and  the  Lord  shall  give  it  a  body, as  it  may 
please  him. 

Leonard  Woolsey  Bacon. 


Genev'tj  January,  1877, 


CHUECH   PAPEES. 


I. 


THE  RADICAL  FALLACY   OF   CURRENT 
CONGREGATIONALISM* 


The  Congregational  Board  of  Publication  is  rendering 
a  useful  service  to  the  public  b}^  discouraging  the  circulation 
of  the  writings  of  the  late  Dr.  Emmons.  If  the  ponderous 
heritage  of  the  stereotype  plates  of  his  works  had  fallen 
to  the  lot  of  an  unscrupulous  private  publisher^  we  can 
not  precisely  estimate  at  present  the  mischief  which  they 
might  have  done.  Such  a  one  might  have  used  with  his  con- 
science the  argument  "  I  must  live  ;  therefore  this  stock 
must  be  worked  off."    In  such  hands  the  sluggish  flow  of 

*  From  the  Congregational  Quarterly  for  October,  18G3.  It  is  proper  to  say  that 
the  exordium  of  this  article,  on  the  true  function  of  publishing-  societies,  was 
omitted  by  the  Editors  of  tlie  Quarterly,  and  that  the  article,  as  thus  retrenched 
was  accompanied  by  a  disclaimer  of  editorial  approbation.  But  the  publication, 
even  on  such  terms,  in  a  denominational  or<yan,  of  an  essay  in  purposed 
refutation  of  the  fundamental  tenet  of  the  denomination,  seems  to  me  such  an  act 
of  liberality  as  would  bo  found  in  few  religious  communions  besides  that  of  the 
American  Congregationalists. 

1 


2  THE  RADICAL  FALLACY 

this  heavy  literature  would  have  been  facilitated  by  a 
hundred  appliances.  The  stout  octavos  would  have  stood 
"  on  sale "  in  the  stock  of  country  book-stores  ;  they 
would  have  been  swapped  off  among  booksellers  at  trade- 
sales  ;  they  would  have  been  cheerfully  thrown  in  to  eke 
out  the  balance  of  many  a  doubtful  bargain  ;  in  the  spirit 
of  disinterested  benevolence,  they  would  have  been  pre- 
sented by  the  philanthropic  publisher  to  ministers' 
libraries  and  to  Western  Colleges;  and  so  the  stock  would 
have  been  Worked  Off; — off  the  publisher's  hands  and  on 
the  public's.  And  then  there  would  have  been  clanger — 
how  much,  we  are  not  prepared  to  say,  but  certainly  more 
or  less  danger — that  the  books  would  be  read. 

Now  to  avoid  so  undesirable  a  result,  it  is  impossible 
to  conceive  a  more  beautiful  contrivance,  than  what  is 
called  (in  our  inexact  popular  phrase)  a  '^  publishing 
society."  Without  anything  of  the  jar  of  controversy, 
without  damage  to  any  publisher's  investments,  without 
irritation, — yea,  rather  with  much  emollient  lubrication — 
to  the  feelings  of  descendants  or  surviving  friends,  the 
exceptionable  author  is  quietly  but  effectually  laid  on  the 
shelf.  That  which  might  otherwise  have  continued  to  be 
talked  over  with  ^reproach  or  derision  in  the  streets  of 
Ashkelon,  is  gradually  hushed  up  within  the  denomination. 
A  posthumous  influence  which  might  have  infected  other 
regions  and  generations  is  quarantined  within  its  own 
county, — save  as  successive  classes  of  theological  students^ 
in  the  enthusiasm  of  "  middle  year,"  are  led  into  making 
a  disproportionate  and  too  permanent  investment  of  the 
money  they  have  earned  in  school-teaching,  in  the  works  of 
the  medieval  and  pmdo-post  medieval  divines  of  New 
England. 


OF  CURRENT  CONGREGATIONALISM.  3 

One  good  service  for  which  we  are  sometimes  indebted 
to  writers  not  otherwise  useful,  is  that  of  reducing  the 
fallacies  of  better  men  to  an  absurdity  by  their  own 
wrong-headed  consistency;  or  of  taking  up  the  defense  of 
a  fallacy  which  has  lurked  vaguely  and  covertly  in  men's 
minds,  and  setting  it  fair  and  square  before  us,  within 
good  striking  distance.  This  is  the  good  work  wrought  in 
a  sermon  of  Dr.  Emmons,  "  printed  not  published  "  by  the 
Congregational  Board  of  Publication  under  the  following 
title:— 

'^  Doctrinal  Tract,  No.  46.  Scriptural  Platform 
OF  Church  Government.  B}^  Nathaniel  Emmons,  D.D. 
Boston  :  Congregational  Board  of  Publication." 

It  is  a  Sermon  on  Matthew  xviii  :  15-17.  It  is  written 
in  a  style  rude  without  being  simple,  and  slovenly  without 
being  easy.  Coming  from  the  pen  of  a  practised  writer 
for  the  press,  it  is  disgraced  from  page  to  page  wdth 
grammatical  blunders  that  would  be  shameful  in  a  school- 
boy, and  are  honorable  to  the  "Congregational  Board  of 
Publication,''  only  as  evidence  of  their  scrupulosit}^  against 
tampering  Avith  the  author's  text.  It  is  careless  in  state- 
ment, almost  to  the  point  of  self-contradiction.  It  assumes, 
as  axioms,  points  chiefly  contested  by  the  opposing 
theories  of  church-order,  and  propositions  abandoned  by 
all  parties  as  fictitious.  But  it  shows  this  evidence  of  a 
logical  mind,  that  having  started  from  false  premises,  it 
comes  out  at  last,  after  whatever  flying  leaps  of  incon- 
sequent argument,  with  a  good  degree  of  uniformity, 
upon  false  conclusions.  The  whole  document,  with  all  its 
assumptions  and  assertions,  is  pitched  in  that  key  of 
oracular  infallibility  which  is  apt  to  characterize  the 
undisputed  great  man  of  a  small  country  town. 


4  THE  RADICAL  FALLACY 

We  might  justify  these  strictures  by  two  or  three  pages 
of  citations ;  but  it  is  sufficient  to  cite  the  whole  tract 
"  by  its  title  only."  In  its  twenty  duodecimo  pages^  the 
critic  can  hardl}'-  go  amiss  of  blunders  logical,  rhetorical 
or  grammatical.^ 

Nevertheless,  with  all  its  faults,  the  little  pamphlet  has 
the  great  merit  of  bringing  a  common  fallacy  in  church- 
polity  out  into  the  plainest  view.  By  assuming  this  fallacy 
as  his  logical  base,  and  pushing  ahead  from  it,  without 
looking  either  to  the  right  hand  or  to  the  left,  and  with 
utter   disregard  of  the  cutting  of  his  line  of  communica- 

1.  We  make  room  for  a  few  specimen  sentences,  in  justification  of  what  we  have 
said  of  the  literary  style  of  the  tract  before  us.  Its  logical  deliquencies  cannot 
be  fairly  displayed  without  too  large  encroachments  on  the  space  allotted  for 
this  article. 

"  A  church  has  a  right  to  watch  over  and  reprove  one  another  in  private.  This 
right  they  have  voluntarily  given  to  each  other,  by  their  mutual  covenant."  p.  7. 

"  No  modern  minister  is  a  bishop,  (Jure  Divino,)  but  a  mere  creature  of  the 
State,  and  destitute  of  all  divine  authai'ity  to  exercise  dominion  over  any  regular 
Gospel  minister."  p.  10. 

"  The  elders  of  Ephesus,  whom  the  Apostle  calls  bishops,  were  mere  ministers 
of  churches,  who  had  no  right  to  watch  over  one  another,  but  only  over  the 
particular  church  and  congregation  over  which  God  had  made  each  of  them  a 
distinct  pastor."  p.  10, 

Does  this  last  sentence  mean  anything?  If  so,  it  probably  means  that  tfte 
church  in  Ephesus  whose  eldGrs,— the  Jiock  whose  bishops— Paul  called  to  him  at 
Miletus,  was  not  one  church, but  several  churches,  each  with  its  "  distinct  pas- 
tor," and  so  remarkably  independent  that  one  minister  had  no  right  to  watch  over 
another!  A  convenient  interpretation  to  support  the  lawfulness  of  schism  and 
the  favorite  notion  that  a  church  never  means  a  larger  number  than  can  get  into 
one  meeting-house;  but  an  interpretation  which,  at  the  same  tin\e,  with  delight- 
fully unconscious  simplicity,  upsets  that  most  sound  and  truly  important  maxim 
of  Congregationalism,  that  the  word  chrirch  never  means  a  collection  of 
churches.  Thus  may  such  exegesis  ever  come  to  grief! 

"If  every  cliureh  be  formed  by  confederation,  and  has  an  independent  right  to 
exercise  all  ecclesiastical  power,  then  they  have  a  right  to  dismiss  their  own 

minister The  cliurch  either  puts  their  ministers  into  oflice,  or  delegate 

power  to  neighl)oring  ministers  to  do  it  for  them." "  Therefore  as  neighboring 

ministers  could  not  place  a  pastor  over  them  without  their  consent;  so  they 
cannot  put  away  or  dismiss  their  pastor  withoiit  their  consent."  pp.  11, 12. 

"  An  Episcopalian  church  has  no  indepeinlence;  the  government  of  it  is  in  the 
hands  of  archbishops,  bishops,  and  other  inferior  clergy.  You  know  that 
all  the  Protestant  world  have  loudly  complained  of  the  eeelesiastical  tyranny  of 
the  Church  of  Rome;  and  Justly,  whicli  has  destroyed  the  independence  of  all 
the  churches  of  the  Popish  "relig'ion."  p.  1«. 


OF  CURRENT  CONGREGATIONALISM.  5 

tion,  the  writer  comes  out  at  results  which,  in 
theraselveSj  go  far  to  disprove  his  premises.  To  many 
minds  the  tract  is  its  own  recluctio  ad  absardiim,  and  to 
such  minds  it  can  safely  be  recommended. 

The  radical  fallacy  to  which  we  allude  may  be  summarily 
stated  thus  : — 

THAT  A  CHURCH  IS  A  CLUB. 

More  at  length,  it  is  unfolded  in  the  following  passage 
from  the  tract,  p.  4. 

'^  What  is  it  that  constitutes  a  number  of  visible  saints 
a  proper  church  ?  I  answer,  a  mutual  covenant.  It  is 
by  confederation,  that  a  number  of  individual  Christians 
become  a  visible  church  of  Christ.  A  number  of  professing 
Christians  cannot  be  formed  into  a  church  without  their 
freely  and  mutually  covenanting  to  walk  together  in  all 
the  duties  and  ordinances  of  the  (xospel.  They  may  be  real 
and  visible  saints  while  they  remain  unconnected  and 
separate  ;  but  they  cannot  be  a  proper  church,  without 
entering  into  covenant,  and  lajang  themselves  under 
certain  obligations  to  each  other,  to  live  and  act  like 
Christians."  p.  4. 

This  view  of  the  origin  of  the  churh  is  not  peculiar  to 
the  tract  before  us  ;  on  the  contrary,  it  is  clearly 
expressed  in  the  most  authoritative  standards  of  Congrega- 
tional church  order,  (Cambridge  Platform,  iv.  3.)^   and  in 

1.  It  is  su^j^pstcd  to  mr;  by  very  hi^Ii  authority,  that  the  fraraers  of  the 
Cambridu;e  and  Saybrook  Platforms  never'intended  the  construction  which  has 
been  put  up.jn  their  words  by  nearly  all  their  modern  expounders;  but  that  they 
rather  intended  to  }?uard  against  it,  by  the  words  of  qualifieation  with  which 
they  surround  their  stat'ments  concerning  the  origin  of  the  church.  It  is  an 
interesting  historical  question,  and  the  view  thus  suggested  certainly  has  much 
to  confirm  it,  both  in  the  internal  evidence  of  the  documents,  and  in  the  history 
of  the  times.  If  it  could  be  made  to  appear  that  Ecclesiastical  Jacobinism  was 
contemporaneous  in  its  origin  with  political  .Jacobinism,  the  result  would  be 
honorable  to  the  Forefathers  whom  we  delight  to  honor.  But  the  meaning  of  the 
language  of  Dr.  Emmons,  and  of  other  modern  writers,  in  their  treatment  of  the 
theoi-y  of  the  church,  docs  not  admit  even  of  a  eliaritable  doubt. 


6  THE  RADICAL  FALLACY 

other  writings  it  is  contained  by  implication.  But  in  the 
case  before  ns  it  is  stated  with  the  least  possible  qualifica- 
tion, and  its  evil  consequences  accepted  with  the  most 
unhesitating  simplicity 

We  have  three  things  to  allege  against  the  proposi- 
tion : — 

I.  It  rests  ox  false  axd  ixadequate  Arguments. 

II.  It  leads  to  absurd  Conclusions 

III.  It  results  in  vicious  Practices. 

I.  The  first  argument^  brought  to  the  support  of  this 
proposition  is  stated  in  the  tract,  as  follows : — 

"  1.  Confederation  is  the  band  of  union  among  civil 
societies  ;  [sic]  and  analogy  requires  the  same  band  of 
union  in  a  religious  society.  Civil  government  is  founded 
in  compact.  Individuals  are  not  a  civil  society,  until  they 
have  fijrmed  themselves  into  one,  by  an  explicit  or  implicit 
compact,  agreement,  or  covenant.  Before  they  have  laid 
themselves  under  a  mutual  engagement,  they  are  uncon- 
nected individuals,  and  have  no  power  or  authority  over 
one  another.  But  after  they  have  freely  and  voluntarily 
entered  into  a  compact,  or  covenant,  to  live  and  conduct 
towards  one  another,  according  to  certain  laws,  rules,  and 

1.  Another  argument  is  hinted  at  in  limine,  but  a  little  shyly,  as  itit  were  not  of 
anature  to  hear  close  inspection — I  mean  the  historical  and  Scriptural  argument. 
See  p.  4. 

"  It  was  certainly  so  iii»  the  days  of  the  apostles.  Tliey  prepared  materials 
before  they  erected  churches.  They  went  from  place  to  place  and  preached  the 
Gospel,  and  as  many  as  professed  to  believe  the  Gospel  and  were  baptized,  an^Z 
ftemigr  of  a  comi)etent  number,  [s/cf  they  formed  into  a  distinct  church.  But  how 
did  THEY  form  churches  ?  . . . .    I  answer,  A  mitial  Covenant." 

It  would  hardly  be  suspected,  from  the  neat  way  in  which  these  matter-of- 
course  remarks  are  slipped  in  at  the  outset  of  the  discussion,  that  tlicy  can  stand 
only  as  an  inference,  and  a  very  difticult  and  doubtful  inftn-ence  at  that,  from  the 
very  tlieory  wliich  the  writer  is  pcoinp^  about  to  prove;  — that  this  is  a  point  at 
which  that  tlicory  laltors  fearfully,— tlie  total  absence  of  any  vestis^' of  liistorical 
testimony  that  the  apostles,  or  their  converts,  ever  did  any  such  thing  as  is  here 
imputed  to  tliem. 


OF  CLTRRENT  CONGREUATIONALISM.  7 

regulations,  they  become  a  civil  society,  vested  with  civil 
power  and  authority.  And  [therefore  ?]  it  is  only  by 
confederation  that  individual  Christians  can  form  them- 
selves into  a  church,  and  bind  themselves  to  walk  together 
according  to  the  rules  of  the  Gospel."    p.  4. 

A  beautiful  bit  of  reasoning  to  set  before  the  public,  in 
the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century  !  Surely  it  ought  to 
need  no  refutation — this  attempt  to  found  an  explosive 
theory  of  the  church  on  an  exploded  theory  of  the  State. 
But  how  then  shall  we  deal  with  it,  coming  from  such  an 
author,  and  indorsed  w^ith  such  and  imprimatur  ?  If  we 
had  found  it  in  Jefferson,  we  should  know  what  to 
think  of  it.  But  was  not  Emmons  that  heroic  con- 
servative who  preached  the  famous  philippic  on  "  Jero- 
boam, the  son  of  Nebat,  which  made  Israel  to  sin," 
wherein  he  renounced  Tom  Jefferson,  and  all  his  works  ? 
And  how  comes  he  to  be  flourishing  this  shabby  scrap  of 
cheap  second-hand  Jacobinism  ?  We  are  curious  to  know 
the  date  at  which  this  precious  argument  was  drawn  up. 
If  it  was  written  in  the  author's  j^ounger  days,  before  the 
French  Revolution  had  reduced  its  premiss  to  a  tragical 
absurdity,  he  might  plead  the  fact  in  mitigation.  But  what 
shall  we  say  for  the  Board  of  Publication  ? 

2.  The  second  argument  in  favor  of  this  theory  that  the 
church  is  formed  by  a  "  social  compact,"  is  the  identical 
argument  which  is  used  to  establish  the  origin  of  the 
Stateindi  "social  compact,"  the  names  only  being  changed. 
It  is  briefly  this  :  the  church  has  certain  powers  over  its 
members.  It  could  not  have  acquired  those  powers  except 
by  a  mutual  agreement  among  the  members,  ceding  some 
of  their  individual  rights  to  the  body  ecclesiastic.     There- 


8  THE  RADICAL  FALLACY 

fore  the  church  is  formed  by  a  compact;  is  a  "voluntary 
association."  p.  5. 

This  also  needs  no  refatation^  its  exact  parallel  in  civil 
polity  being  universally  renounced  as  a  fallacy. 

3.  The  final  proof  that  a  church  is  a  "  voluntary 
association  "  is  little  more  than  a  reiteration  of  the  last 
mentioned  argument,  with  particulars.  "  Nothing  besides 
a  covenant  can  give  form  to  a  church,  or  be  a  sufficient 
bond  of  union."  (Scr.  Platform,  p.  5.)  Mere  Christian 
affection  cannot;  nor  "  cohabitation,"  even  when  the  co- 
habitants habitually  meet  for  worship, — nor  baptism. 

This  enumeration  (borrowed  from  the  Cambridge  Plat- 
form, chap.  iv.  §5.)  even  if  we  admit  the  particulars, 
scarcely  exhausts  all  possible  theories  of  the  church.  It 
makes  no  mention  of  the  organizing  power  of  Christian 
duty  and  an  imperative  law  of  Christ,  or  of  the  force  of 
traditionary  Christian  usage  originating  in  apostolic 
example  and  authority,  and  gaining  gradually  by  antiquity 
of  prescription  all  the  force  which  it  loses  by  remoteness 
from  the  source  of  authority.  Especially,  it  takes  no 
account  of  this,  that  two  or  three  of  the  conditions  named 
might  together  constitute  a  church,  when  each  of  them 
separately  would  fail  to  do  so.  Long  before  the  "  Scrip- 
tural Platform  "  was  written,  a  body  of  men  who  were 
not  fools  named  as  the  essentials  of  church-life  just  those 
conditions,  jointly,  which  Dr.  Emmons  rejects,  seriatim: 
(1)  "a  congregation,  (2)  of  faithful  men,  (3)  in  the  which 
the  pure  word  of  Grod  is  preached  and  the  sacraments  be 
duly  administered."  Their  definition  of  a  church  may  or 
may  not  have  been  complete.  But  it  is  not  necessarily  an 
absurdity  because  Dr.  Emmons  says  so. 


OF  CURRENT  CONGREf4ATiONALI8M.  9 

II.  The  theory  of  the  origin  of  the  church  in  a 

SOCIAL  compact  LEADS  TO  ABSURD  CONCLUSIONS. 

Here  again  we  are  relieved  of  the  necessity  of  extended 
argument,  by  the  analogy,  already  claimed  in  defense  of 
this  theory,  between  the  church  and  the  civil  state.  The 
notion,  long  abandoned  by  wise  men,  but  prevailing  still 
among  shallow  demagogues — that  it  is  the  constitution 
that  creates  the  nation,  and  not  the  nation  that  makes  the 
constitution,  runs  parallel,  in  its  whole  length,  with  the 
notion  that  it  is  the  covenant  which  makes  the  church,  and 
not  the  church  that  makes  the  covenant.  But  not  to  pass 
this  point  by  without  the  compliment  of  an  argument,  we 
venture  briefly  to  trace  a  line  of  reasoning  which  is 
familiar  alread}^  to  all  who  have  studied  the  elements  of 
political  philosophy. 

1.  If  the  church  is  simply  a  voluntary  association, 
subsisting  by  virtue  of  a  compact  between  its  members, 
then  the  church  is  ipso  facto  dissolved,  whenever  the 
mutual  compact  is  violated. 

2.  If  the  church  has  no  other  power  than  what  is 
derived  from  the  covenant  of  its  members,  then  it  has  no 
further  sanction  for  its  authority  than  the  ordinary 
obligation  of  its  members  to  veracity  and  fidelity. 

3.  The  terms  of  the  social  compact  can  bind  none  but 
the  original  confederators.  The  theory  might  serve  in 
some  measure  for  a  Baptist  church ;  but  it  is  incompatible 
with  any  view  of  infant  church-membership. 

4.  Neither  is  the  theory  compatible  with  the  duty 
(which  is  nevertheless  universally  insisted  on  by  the 
advocates  of  this  theory)  of  individual  Christians  to  join 
the  church.  For  it  is  essential  to  the  nature  of  such 
"  voluntary   associations "  and  this  is  much  vaunted  in 


10  THE  RADICAL  FALL  AC  V 

Tintlication  of  this  polity — that  iiieniber.s  of  the  society 
are,  so  far  as  the  society  is  concerned,  all  equals  or  fellows. 
(See  Wayland's  Moral  Philosophy,  p.  335.)  Now  if  the 
church,  or  club,  one  year  after  its  formation,  shall 
approach  an  individual  Christian  in  its  neighborhood  with 
j£i  claim  of  moral  obligation  that  he  shall  join  it,  he  is 
-certainly  entitled  to  claim,  on  his  part,  to  be  placed  on 
terms  of  perfect  equality  with  the  original  corporators. 
If  he  is  to  enter  freely  and  equitably  into  covenant, 
be  has  a  right  to  demand  that  the  dictation  "of  the  terms 
of  the  covenant  shall  not  be  wholly  on  one  side.  But 
it  will  be  impossible  to  modify  the  covenant  for  his 
case  only ;  for  then  there  will  be  a  different  set  of 
reciprocal  rights  and  duties  with  respect  to  him,  from 
those  which  subsist  with  respect  to  the  other  members. 
The  only  course  possible  to  be  pursued  in  such  a  case  is 
to  dissolve  the  church  and  take  a  new  start.  If  he  is 
bound  to  join  the  church,  the  church  is  bound  to  join  him. 
5.  But  to  relieve  this  difficulty,  it  is  now  claimed  that 
the  terms  of  the  mutual  obligation,  like  the  duty  of 
mutually  entering  into  obligation  at  all,  are  not  subject 
to  be  determined  by  the  will  of  the  corporators,  but  are 
imposed  in  advance  by  a  superior  authority.  In  this  case, 
Avhat  becomes  of  the  voluntary  convention  as  the  source 
of  ecclesiastical  rights  and  duties  ?  A  covenant  Avhich  is 
only  the  expression  of  duties  previously  binding,  in  a 
community  in  which  membership  is  a  duty  of  itself, 
anterior  to  the  act  of  initiation,  is  certainly  not  the  source 
of  a  great  deal  of  authority.  The  "voluntary  association" 
is  one  of  that  peculiar  sort  into  which  the  members  are 
^' compelled  to  volunteer."'  Such  a  "social  c<mipact"  is 
jiot  very  useful,  even  to  stop  a  gap  in.  an   ecclesiastical 


OF  CURRENT  CONGREGATIONALISM.  11 

theory.  And  as  this  is  the  only  service  it  was  ever  supposed 
to  be  good  for,  let  us  hope  that  the  preposterous  and 
antiquated  fiction  will  quit  the  stage.  Strange,  that  having 
so  long  been  scouted  from  civil  polity,  it  should  have 
lingered  to  this  day  in  ecclesiastical  polity  ! 

6.  Finally,  in  the  attempt  to  escape  this  reticulation  of 
absurdities,  the  theory  of  the  social-compact  church  takes 
to  itself  one  absurdity  more.  The  individual  believer,  in 
any  community,  is  bound  to  join  the  church  (Cambridge 
Platform,  ch.  iv.  §G.  Saybrook  Platform,  ch.  i.  §8,)  but 
the  church  is  not  bound  to  receive  him.  "  It  is  essential 
to  every  voluntary  society  to  admit  ^vhom  they  please  into 
their  number."  So  declare  Dr.  Emmons  and  the  Con- 
gregational Board  of  Publication  (Scriptural  Platform, 
p.  6;)  and  although  it  immediately  appears  that  this 
liberty'  of  the  church,  essential  to  its  very  nature  as  a 
voluntary  society,  is  restricted  to  admissions  hi  conformity 
ivitli  the  rules  of  the  Gospel,  it  does  not  distinctly  appear 
in  the  writings,  still  less  in  the  practice,  of  these  theorizers, 
that  the  inalienable  rights  of  a  voluntary  society  are  thus 
restricted  with  regard  to  the  exclusion  of  persons  from 
their  communion.  One  work  of  acknowledged  authority, 
indeed,  leans  to  the  open  communion  view,  as  we  judge 
from  such  expressions  as  these:  "  Him  that  is  weak  in  the 
faith  receive  ye,  but  not  to  doubtful  disputations;"  "Whoso 
shall  offend  one  of  these  little  ones  which  believe  in  me, 
it  were  better  for  him  that  a  millstone  were  hanged  about 
his  neck,  and  that  he  were  drowned  in  the  depths  of  the 
sea."  But  the  recent  works  generall}^,  and  the  recent 
usage  almost  universally,  carry  the  "  social  compact  " 
theory  to  practical  conclusions  as  consistent  as  may  be. 
If  the  only  conditions  of  the  existence  of  a  church  are  that 


12  THE  RADICAL  FALLACY 

certain  Christians  ("  being  of  a  competent  number,"  which 
number  nobody  undertakes  to  define)  should  "  covenant 
to  walk  together  according  to  the  gospel,"  it  is  obviously 
to  be  inferred  that  certain  of  their  Christian  neighbors 
(being  of  a  number  more  or  less  competent)  may  be  left 
(to  use  a  phrase  not  classical  but  expressive)  "  out  in  the 
cold."  These  residuary  Christians,  being  severally  under 
obligation  to  "  join  themselves  to  some  particular  church," 
are  constrained  therefore  to  set  up  an  opposition  church 
in  the  same  village!  This,  forsooth,  is  the  church  polity 
of  the  apostles!  A  theory  of  the  church,  indeed! — say 
rather  a  theory  of  infinitesimal  and  endless  schism — a 
theory  which,  disseminated  through  Christian  communities 
of  many  different  ways  of  thinking  and  modes  of  adminis- 
tration, has  already  borne  fruit  after  its  kind  throughout 
the  one  Church  of  Christ  which  in  in  all  the  world. 

III.  The  club  theory  of  the  Church  results  in^ 
VICIOUS  practices. 

If  any  are  content  with  the  present  aspect  of  the 
churches,  even  of  the  Congregational  churches,  as  entirely 
normal  and  right,  we  have  little  to  say  to  them  on  this 
head.  But  to  those  otherwise-minded  we  would  briefly 
indicate  some  of  the  existing  abuses  and  abnormities 
which  are  directly  traceable  to  this  fnndaniental  faUaci/  of 
current  Congregationalism. 

1.  TJie  indignities  lyractised  and  tolerated  against  the 
autJiority  oj  the  church. — When  the  church  itself  declares 
that  it  receives  its  "  powers  from  the  consent  of  the 
governed,"  is  it  strange  that  whenever  these  powers  begin 
to  press  hardly  on  any  one,  he  should  forthwith  ''  better 
the  instruction,"  and  claim  the  right  to  retract  a  promise 
given     without     consideration,    and    without    a    distinct 


OF  CURRENT  CONGREGATIONALISM.  13 

appreciation  of  its  bearings  ?  Will  it  be  denied  that  this 
"  right  of  secession  "  is  both  claimed  and  freely  exercised 
by  members  of  our  churches^  and  that  too,  sometimes, 
with  (jpen  insult  to  the  church,  and  ostentatious  scorn  put 
upon  their  own  plighted  word  ?  Nay,  is  it  doubted  that 
this  right  is  substantially  conceded  in  the  administration 
of  the  churches?  A  deliberate  violation  of  a  secular 
contract,  a  flagrant  perfidy  to  the  terms  of  a  business 
copartnership,  would  be  commonly  deemed  matters  justify- 
ing the  extreme  discipline  of  Christ's  house.  But  the  case 
of  one  who  in  some  freak  of  admiration  for  a  surplice,  or 
under  some  burden  of  scrupulosity  concerning  baptism, 
openly  renounces  and  breaks  the  solemn  compact  to  which 
he  has  freely  made  himself  a  party,  and  which  he  has 
confirmed  with  the  public  oath  Avhich  our  churches  are 
accustomed  to  administer  at  the  initiation  of  their  mem- 
bers— is  such  a  case  as  this  commonly  held  to  involve  any 
moral  elements,  or  to  be  worthy  of  discipline  as  perjury? 
In  fact  this  covenant  is  commonly  assumed,  both  by 
churches  and  by  candidates  for  membership,  with  the 
slightest  and  vaguest  possible  expectation  that  it  will  be 
kept.  In  a  country  church  of  three  hundred  members, 
not  only  the  church  as  a  body  b}^  votes,  but  each 
individual  member  rising  for  himself,  promises  to  watch 
over  and  care  for  the  young  candidate  ;  and  the  candidate 
in  turn  promises  the  like  to  the  members.  Does  he  know 
who  they  are  with  whom  he  has  exchanged  these  vows? 
He  knows  the  minister  and  deacons,  but  the  names  of  the 
rest  of  the  three  hundred  are  scattered  over  a  confused 
chronicle  reaching  back  through  generations  of  church 
clerks,  more  or  less  accomplished  and  accurate.  Do  the 
other  parties  to  the  contract  know  him?    If  he  is  diffident 


14  THE  RADICAL  FALLACY 

and  retiring,  their  knowledge  of  him  extends  to  this,  that 
he  has  lately  come  to  town,  and  perhaps  "  works  in  the 
factory."  In  the  course  of  time  he  moves  to  the  West^ 
and  is  lost  sight  of,  until  at  the  accession  of  a  new  pastor 
the  records  of  the  church  are  everhauled,  and  his  name 
being  discovered,  and  nothing  being  known  of  his  where- 
abouts, it  is  moved,  seconded,  and  unanimously  voted^ 
that  his  name  be  dropped  from  the  catalogue. 

Is  this  an  exaggeration,  or  is  it  a  fair  specimen  of  the 
procedure  of  an  average  New  England  church  ?  Unless 
our  personal  experience  has  been  a  very  peculiar  one,  it 
is  the  ordinary  usage  of  these  churches  to  have  from  time 
to  time  a  "  dropping  season,"  at  which  coolly,  deliberately^ 
and  without  a  thought  of  perfidy  or  vow-breach,  they 
renounce  their  solemn  promises  of  watch  and  care  towards 
the  very  persons  who,  as  wanderers,  most  need  their 
churchly  faithfulness  ;  and  the  "  compact  "  is  held  to  be 
dissolved  by  mutual  consent.  And,  further,  this  "  purging 
of  the  catalogue"  is  commended  and  approved  on  all  hands 
as  a  token  of  activity  and  fidelity. 

2.  We  name,  as  the  second  class  of  abuses  arising  from 
the  radical  fallaci/y  the  itsmyation  of  tuulue  ecclesiastical 
authority  over  the  individual  conscience. 

It  has  come  to  be  deemed  a  fine  expedient  for  carrying 
certain  points  of  conduct  or  of  doctrine  with  young  dis- 
ciples, to  incorporafe  in  the  ceremonies  of  initiation  into 
church  fellowship,  professions  and  promises  which  at  the 
time  they  will  not  be  able  to  refuse  without  extreme 
embarrassment,  perhaps  not  without  the  forfeiture  of 
church  communion,  but  which  once  assented  to  will  hold 
them  thenceforward.  Thus  it  comes  to  pass  that  we  may 
not    unfrequently  find  a   church-covenant    with  a   total- 


OF  CURRKNr  COlN'UREGATiOXALISM.  15 

abstinence  pledge,  or  an  anti-slavery  resolution,  or  a  tract 
against  dancing,  or  a  gloss  upon  the  fourth  commandment, 
in  its  belly.  The  design  of  such  specifications  is  to  re- 
inforce doubtful  points  of  discipline ;  so  that  in  cases 
where  the  majority  of  the  church  are  not  quite  assured  of 
the  decisiveness  of  scriptural  authorit}'  on  their"  side,  they 
may  have  the  matter  "  nominated  in  the  bond  "'  of  mutual 
compact.  If  the  Bible  does  not  cover  the  case,  the 
covenant  must.  Partl}^  in  this  category,  also,  and  partly 
in  the  next,  are  to  be  reckoned  the  codes  of  dogmatic 
theology  imposed  by  churches  upon  the  conscience  of  the 
novice,  under  the  misnomer  of  Confessions  of  Faith.  They 
are  not  confessions  of  faith,  but  professions  of  opinion. 
They  do  not  say  "  I  believe  ouy'  but  "  You  believe  that.'' 
They  are  universally  understood  to  be,  not  the  spon- 
taneous expression  of  the  candidate's  opinions,  but  the 
church's  view  of  what  ought  to  be  his  opinions,  to  which 
he  is  compelled  to  assent.  It  grows  doubtless  out  of  a 
just  sense  of  the  importance  of  scriptural  views,  that  these,, 
according  to  the  "  social  compact  '*  theory  of  the  church,, 
are  made  a  matter  of  contract  between  the  church  and  its 
catechumen,  and  attached  to  its  covenant  of  initiation. 
SomehoAv,  nevertheless,  the  contract  for  opinions  is  apt  to 
fail  of  a  due  observance. 

3.  The  final  and  most  fatal  charge  against  the  club 
theory  of  the  church  is  this :  that  it  results  in  the  rending 
of  the  body  of  Christ,  It  deliberately  accepts  the  separa- 
tion of  the  people  of  God  into  sects  and  schisms,  as  the 
normal  and  permanent  order  of  the  church.  Any  volun- 
tary association  of  ''  visible  saints,"  under  a  compact  of 
mutual  fidelity  in  the  Gospel,  is  a  church,  no  matter  what 
principles   of  exclusion    they   may   adopt    toward    other 


16  THE  RADICAL  FALLACY 

visible  saints  about  them.  The  "  platform  "  of  their 
mutual  compact  may  prescribe  whatever  arbitrary  condi- 
tions of  admission^  in  addition  to  "  visible  sanctity/*'  the 
convenience  or  the  caprice  of  the  first  squatter-sovereigns 
of  the  congregation  may  suggest. 

A  great  many  pleasing  sentiments  of  Christian  love, 
and  of  the  proper  oneness  of  Christ's  church  must  be 
sacrificed  to  the  advantage  of  having  a  snug,  homogeneous, 
peaceable  little  Zion  of  our  own.  It  shall  be  held  that 
the  stumbling  of  one  weak  in  faith  upon  doubtful  disputa- 
tions— that  the  offending  of  a  few  of  the  little  ones, 
ignorant  or  ill-indoctrinated,  and  their  falling  for  lack  of 
recognition  and  brotherly  care, — are  minor  evils  compared 
with  that  of  tolerating  men  of  '^  dangerous  tendencies." 
80,  instead  of  a  church  of  Christ  in  an^^  community,  you 
shall  have  a  Calvinistic  church,  a  Total  Abstinence  church, 
an  Anti-Slavery  church,  a  Congregational  church.  All 
this  is  designed  for  the  discouragement  of  error,  in  forget- 
fulness  that  the  very  organization  of  the  exclusive  and 
immaculate  church  necessitates  the  organization  of  errorist 
churches  whenever  and  wherever  there  are  Christian 
errorists.  A  grand  system  for  the  discouragement 
of  error,  this,  which  compels  error  to  organize  and 
perpetuate  itself  in  a  corporation  !  A  splendid  success, 
the  New  England  experiment  for  the  suppression  of 
Methodism,  Anabaptism,  and  Episcopalianism,  by  inserting 
a  vow  of  Calvinism,  Pa^do-Baptism  and  Social  Compact  in 
the  Congregational  church-creeds  ! 

Against  this  Law  of  Schism,  abhorrent  to  the  Christian 
heart,  and  at  enmity  with  the  law  of  Christ,  the  reaction 
has  begun.     May  Grod  speed  it ! 


OF  CURRENT  CONGREGATIONALISM.  17 

There  was  a  time  when,  to  many  earnest  minds,  the 
maintenance  of  the  principles  of  free  and  popular  civil 
government  seemed  to  be  identified  with  the  defense  of 
the  fallacious  and  now  obsolete  theory  of  the  origin  of 
society  in  a  Social  Compact.  The  theory  perished  in  the 
lapse  of  two  generations,  but  Civil  Liberty,  instead  of 
perishing  with  it,  now  disencumbered  of  the  body  of  its 
death,  makes  freer  progress  every  year,  and  wider  con- 
quests. 

There  may  be  those  now,  who  will  tremble  at  any  attack 
on  the  figment  of  Ecclesiastical  Social  Compact,  fearing 
lest,  if  that  theory  should  be  overthrown,  the  foundations 
of  freedom  in  the  church  would  be  destroyed,  and  the  best 
thoughts  and  hopes  of  the  founders  of  Christ's  church  in 
New  England  perish  together.  The  fear  betokens  no 
worthy  confidence  in  the'  truth  of  the  principles  of  church 
liberty.  The  truth  cannot  suffer  by  its  riddance  of  such 
an  incubus  of  falsehood.  Long  after  men  shall  have 
learned  to  think  of  the  "  Platform  "  of  Dr.  Emmons,  as 
they  now  think  of  the  "  Contrat  Social  "  of  Rousseau,  the 
principles  of  church  liberty,  better  administered  and 
understood  than  now,  will  still  be  found  leading  the 
advance  of  the  gospel  and  of  Christian  civilization. 


18  f-IVE  THEORIES  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


II. 


FIVE    THEORIES    OF    THE    CHURCH.* 


The  author  of  the  "  Thirteen  Historical  Discourses,  on 
the  First  Church  in  New  Haven/'  ^  vindicates  the  authority 
of  that  church,  organized  by  mutual  agreement  in  a 
meeting  of  the  Christian  people  of  the  colony,  by  analogy 
with  the  civil  government  of  the  colony,  organized  in  like 
manner,  about  the  same  time.  After  describing  the 
"  plantation-covenant,"  under  which  as  a  provisional 
government  the  colonists  lived  for  fourteen  months,  the 
author  records  the  meeting  in  Mr.  Newman's  barn,  the 
framing  of  the  church  and  of  the  state,  the  choosing  of  the 
"  seven  pillars,"  and  finally  the  election  and  ordination  of 
the  church  officers.     He  then  proceeds  as  follows : — 

"  The  question  doubtless  arises  with  some — Could  such 
an  ordination  have  any  validity,  or  confer  on  the  pastor 
thus  ordained  any  authority?  Can  men,  by  a  voluntary 
compact,   form  themselves  into  a  church?  and  can  the 

*  From  the  Congregational  Quarterly,  January,  18G4. 

1.  Thirteen  Historical  UiscourKos  on  the  completion  of  Two  Hunarcd  Years 
from  the  Beginning  of  the  First  Church  in  New  Haven.  By  Leonard  Bacon. 
New  Haven,  183». 


FIVE  THEORIES  OF  THE  CHURCH.  19 

church  thus  formed  impart  to  its  own  officers  the  power  of 
administering  ordinances?  If  Davenport  had  not  been 
previously  ordained  in  England,  would  not  his  administra- 
tion of  ordinances  have  been  sacrilege?  Answer  me 
another  question:  How  could  the  meeting  which  convened 
in  Mr.  Newman's  barn,  originate  a  commonwealth  ?  How 
could  the  commonwealth  thus  originated  impart  the 
divine  authority  and  dignity  of  magistrates  to  officers  of 
its  own  election  ?  How  could  a  few  men  coming 
together  here  in  the  wilderness,  without  commission 
from  king  or  parliament,  by  a  mere  voluntary 
compact  among  themselves,  give  being  to  a  state  ?  How 
can  the  state  thus  instituted  have  power  to  make  laws 
that  shall  bind  the  minority  ?  What  right  had  they  to 
erect  tribunals  of  justice  ?  What  right  to  wield  the 
sword  ?  What  right  to  inflict  punishment,  even  to  death, 
upon  offenders  ?  Is  not  civil  government  a  divine  institu- 
tion, as  really  as  baptism  and  the  Lord's  supper?  Is  not 
the  '■  duly  constituted  '  magistrate  as  truly  the  minister  of 
Grod,  as  he  who  presides  over  the  church,  and  labors  in 
word  and  doctrine  ?  Whence  then  came  the  authority 
with  which  that  self-constituted  state,  meeting  in 
Mr.  Newman's  barn,  invested  its  elected  magistrates  ?  It 
came  directly  from  Grod,  the  only  fountain  of  authority. 
Just  as  directly  from  the  same  God,  came  the  authority 
with  which  the  equall}'-  self-constituted  church,  meeting  in 
the  same  place,  invested  its  elected  pastor.  Could  the  one 
give  to  its  magistrates  power  to  hang  a  murderer  in  the 
name  of  God, — and  could  not  the  other  give  to  its  elders 
power  to  administer  baptism."  ^ 

The  argument  thus  popularly  stated  is  sharply  conclusive 
ad  homiiieni  against  those  who  hold  the  popular  statement 
as  to  the  sanction  of  civil  government.  The  American 
idea  of  the  state  implies  the  American  idea  of  the  church. 
The  parity  of  reasoning  the  betwixt  the  two  is  perfect. 

1.  Bacon's  Historical  Discourses,  pp.  41,  42. 


20  i'lVE  THEORIES  OF  THE  CHURCH. 

But  the  analogy  here  drawn  is  good  for  much  more  than 
this.  It  has  only  to  be  cleared  of  expressions  which  point 
its  immediate  application  to  a  particular  class  of  gain- 
sayers,  to  furnish  a  theorem  by  which,  reasoning  from 
sound  principles  in  civil  polity,  we  may  discover  fallacies, 
and  establish  the  truth,  in  ecclesiastical  polity.  For 
several  reasons,  let  us  take  the  particular  instance  quoted 
above  as  the  text  of  our  whole  discussion.  First,  because 
the  argument  will  be  clearer  if  stated  in  relation  to  a 
particular  instance ;  secondly,  because  almost  the  only 
cases  in  which  history  distinctly  discloses,  side  by  side, 
the  origin  and  earliest  processes  of  civil  and  of  eccle- 
siastical government,  are  this  and  like  cases  in  early 
American  history;  thirdly,  because  the  passage  quoted 
has  actually  been,  in  the  mind  of  the  present  writer,  the 
germ  out  of  which  his  argument  has  grown. 

At  the  outset,  let  us  guard  against  one  source  of  mis- 
apprehension which  will  be  more  effectually  obviated  as 
the  discussion  proceeds.  The  church  and  commonwealth 
of  New  Haven  Colony  did  not  originate  in  the  meeting  in 
Mr.  Newman's  barn.  They  had  existed  at  least  fourteen 
months  already.  The  "  Two  Hundred  Years  from  the 
Beginning  of  the  First  Church  in  New  Haven,"  which  are 
commemorated  in  these  discourses,  date  from  the  landing 
of  the  colonists,  not  from  the  mutual  compact.  And  the 
civil  state  was  coBval  with  the  church.  So  that  when  it 
comes  to  strictness  of  speech,  the  question,  Can  men  by 
voluntary  compact  form  themselves  into  a  church  ? — and 
the  other  question.  Could  the  meeting  in  Mr.  Newman's 
barn  originate  a  commonwealth  ?  are  to  be  answered  (so 
far  as  the  present  instance  shows)  in  the  negative.     That 


FIVE  THEORIES  OF  THE  CHURCH.  21 

meeting  could  not  create  what  was  already  in  existence.* 
What  the  meeting  did  was  to  organize  both  the  church 
and  the  State.  According  to  "  Congregational  usage " 
this  is  the  same  thing  with  originating  them ;  hut  accord- 
ing to  the  exact  use  of  the  English  language  it  is  some- 
thing different. 

Coming  now  to  the  question,  What  was  the  origin  of 
the  New  Haven  Colony  Commonwealth  and  Church  ?  and 
What  were  the  source  and  channel  of  their  authority,  if 
any  they  had  ? — there  is  room  for  five  different  answers, 
according  as  the  respondent  holds  one  or  another  of  five 
different  theories  of  polity,  civil  and  ecclesiastical.  Let  us 
name  them : 

I.  The  Papal  Theory. 

II.  The  Bourbon  Theory. 

III.  The  Formal  Theory. 

IV.  The  jAComN  Theory. 

Y      The  Rational  and  Scriptural  Theory. 

I.     The  Papal  Theory. 

It  is  a  "  fundamental  principle  of  the  papal  canon  law, 
that  the  Roman  pontiff  is  the  sovereign  lord  of  the  whole 
world  ;  and  that  all  other  rulers  in  church  and  state  have 
so  much  power  as  he  sees  fit  to  allow  them  to  have." 
Under  this  principle,  the  popes  have  claimed  the  power 
"  not  only  of  conferring  benefices,  but  also  of  giving  away 
empires,  and  likewise  of  divesting  kings  and  princes  of 
their  crowns  and  authority."  ^ 

The  theory  thus  set  forth  is  a  very  simple  and  intelligible 

1.  That  this  is  the  view  accepted  by  the  author  of  the  "  Discourses "  is 
sxxfficiently  implied  both  in  the  title-page  and  in  the  preface  of  the  volume. 

2.  Murdock's  Mosheim,  vol.  ii.  p.  3i0. 


22  FIVE  THEORIES  OF  THE  CHURCH. 

one,  and  its  application  to  the  case  in  hand  is  nowise 
doubtful.  The  heathen  territory  of  New  England  had 
been  disposed  of  long  before  the  Puritan  migration  by  the 
gift  of  a  pope  to  a  Catholic  prince/  and  therefore  whatever 
claim  of  jurisdiction  should  be  set  up  within  that  territory 
by  any  body  of  colonists,  whether  in  the  name  of  a  charter 
from  a  heretic  power,  or  under  color  of  a  purchase  from 
the  barbarous  tribes  in  possession,  or  under  pretense  of  a 
so-called  inherent  right  of  self-government,  must  be  simply 
an  intrusion  and  a  usurpation.  It  would  be  not  only 
devoid  of  right  in  itself,  but  a  violation  of  the  divine  right 
of  the  pope's  grantee. 

In  like  manner,  any  assumption  of  the  functions  of  the 
church  or  ministry  in  this  colony,  otherwise  than  through 
the  ways  appointed  by  the  head  of  the  church,  would  be 
void  and  invalid,  and  therefore  sacrilegious.  Furthermore, 
it  would  be  schismatic,  as  intruding  a  separate  church 
authority  within  a  territory  and  population  already  placed 
under  the  special  spiritual  jurisdiction  of  some  bishop, 
or  if  not  so  placed,  then  remaining  under  the  immediate 
pastoral  care  of  the  bishop  of  Rome. 

Obviously,  according  to  this  theor}^,  the  first  step  for 
the  colonists  to  take  to  secure  a  regular  and  valid  govern- 
ment, in  church  and  state,  is  to  become  reconciled  to  the 
Catholic  church. 

II.  The  Bourbon  Theory.  This  theory  agrees  with 
the  first  mentioned  in  declaring  all  lawful  authority,  civil 
and  ecclesiastical,  to  be  derived  from  God  through  a  con- 
tinuous succession  of  men.  It  difi:ers  from  it  in  this  :  that 
whereas  the  former  holds  that  there  is  but  one  line  of  this 

1.  Bancroft's  U.  S.,  vol  i,  p.  10. 


FIVE  THEORIES  OF  THE  CHURCH.  23 

succession — the  line  of  the  popes — and  that  to  all  rightful 
secular  and  spiritual  rulers,  in  any  generation,  their 
authority  flows  through  the  pope  for  the  time  being; — 
the  present  theory  holds  that  the  lines  of  succession  are 
not  one,  but  several ;  that  from  the  original  conferment, 
authority  and  ''  validity  "  descend  along  these  lines  in 
secular  matters  through  an  hereditary  succession ;  in 
spiritual  matters  through  a  tactual  succession ;  that  the 
power  of  the  sceptre  and  sword,  or  the  power  of  the  keys, 
as  it  is  not  derivable  from  the  subjects  thereof,  so  is  not 
defeasible  by  them ;  and  that  the  question  of  title  to 
authority,  civil  or  ecclesiastical,  is  a  simple  question  of 
pedigree.  ^  According  to  this  theory,  the  powers  of  the 
state  center  in  the  sovereign.  The  king,  not  the  pope,  is 
"  the  fountain  of  honor."  "  L^etat,  c'est  moiy^  says  the 
Bourbon  ;  "  Ecclesia  in  Ejnscopo/'  responds  the  high- 
churchman. 

In  its  two  applications,  to  church  and  to  state,  the  lines 
of  argument  by  which  this  theory  is  sustained  are  very 
nearly  equal  and  parallel.  The  state  is  a  divine  institu- 
tion, and  so  is  the  church.  The  ministers  of  the  one  are 
divinely  commissioned,  and  so  of  the  other.  There  are 
difficulties  objected  in  either  case  to  any  other  external 
credentials  of  the  divine  commission  than  the  credentials 
of  succession  from  former  ministers.  Those  whose  claims 
to  authority  have  been  founded,  exclusively  or  mainly, 
on  hereditary  or  tactual  relation  to  their  predecessors, 
have  been  in  a  multitude  of  cases,  and  for  many  centuries 
almost  universally,  approved  as  lawful  rulers  and  bishops. 
The  two  applications  of  the  theory  are  analogous,  not 
only  by  parity  of  reasoning,  but  by  parity  of  unreason- 

1.  See  Macaulay's  History  of  England,  Chap.  I. 


24  FIVE  THEORIES  OF  THE  CHURCH. 

ableness  :  for  in  either  case  it  is  easier  to  show  the  several 
links  of  the  succession  than  it  is  to  demonstrate  any  law 
of  cohesion  by  which  they  become  a  chain^  or,  the  chain 
being  completed,  to  hitch  it  fast  to  the  original  divine 
commission.  It  may  fairly  enough  be  admitted  that  the 
warrant  for  ecclesiastical  power  in  Apostolic  succession, 
is  as  well  accredited,  on  the  whole,  as  the  warrant  of  the 
hereditary  divine  right  of  kings. 

Applying  this  theory  to  the  case  in  hand,  we  find  that 
the  only  right  for  the  exercise  of  government  which  the 
settlers  of  New  England  generally  possessed,  was  such  as 
was  conferred  on  them  by  charter  from  the  king  of 
England.  Under  such  charter,  if  it  was  broad  enough, 
all  the  functions  of  government  might  be  exercised  by  the 
the  local  magistrates  in  the  name  of  the  king.  For  lack 
of  such  authority,  the  legislative  and  judicial  acts  of  the 
New  Haven  colonists  were  null  and  void.  The  only  way 
in  which  regular  and  valid  independent  government  could 
be  set  up  in  the  little  province  of  Quinipiac,  would  be  for 
the  colonists  to  import  the  regularly  descended  heir  of 
some  Lord's  Anointed,  —  an  Otho,  or  a  grand  duke 
Maximilian — and  graft  their  wild  olive  with  a  slip  of  a 
Stuart  or  a  Bourbon. 

Likewise  in  spiritual  matters,  Davenport  and  Hooke 
might  exercise  suc^  spiritual  functions  as  their  ordination 
to  the  priesthood  by  English  bishops  would  authorize,  but 
could  acquire  no  new  prerogative  from  any  act  of  a  self- 
constituted  church.  The  way  of  maintaining  the  functions 
of  the  church  from  generation  to  generation,  was  to  obtain 
other  priests  and  deacons  from  the  ordaining  hands  of  the 
Bishop  of  London,  (whose  modest  diocese  was  understood 
by  a  mild  fiction  of  law  to  includealarge  partof  the  Western 


FIVE  THEORIES  OF  THE  CHURCH.  25 

hemisphere ;)  or  to  secure,  either  from  the  lords  spiritual 
of  England,  or  from  the  cracked  succession  of  the  Scotch 
episcopate,  the  gift  of  a  bishop  with  a  pedigree  sixteen 
hundred  years  long,  whose  should  be  all  the  rights  of 
ecclesiastical  sovereignty,  to  have  and  to  hold,  and  to 
transmit  to  his  assigns  forever.  Both  these  methods  were 
practised  successively  by  a  few  dissidents  in  the  sub- 
sequent days  of  New  Haven ;  by  virtue  of  which  they 
became  the  real  church  of  the  colony,  having  the  only 
"  valid  "  and  authorized  ministry.  For  neglect  of  these, 
the  body  of  Christian  people  in  the  commonwealth  became 
schismatics  and  aliens  from  the  church,  and  their  so-called 
ministers  became  guilty  (so  we  are  assured,)  of  the  sin  of 
Korah  and  of  Dathan  and  Abiram. 

III.  The  Formal  Theory. — This  theory  appears  under 
very  different  phases  of  development,  and  is  held  by  very 
different  parties  of  civil  and  ecclesiastical  politicians.  It 
is  that  the  legitimacy,  validity,  or  authority  of  a  church 
or  of  a  state  are  determined  by  the  form  of  its  structure. 
There  are  jure-divino  monarchists,  jnre-divino  republicans, 
and  jure-divino  democrats.  So  also,  there  are  jnre-divino 
tri-ordinary  episcopalians,  jure-divilio  presbyterians,  and 
jure-divino  congregationalists. 

According  to  the  first  classes  in  these  two  lists,  the 
state-government  in  the  Colony  of  New  Haven  was  hope- 
lessly vitiated  because  it  did  not  constitute  Mr.  Eaton 
ruler  during  his  life,  and  the  head  of  an  hereditary 
dynasty :  the  church  polity  was  ruined,  because  the 
pastor,  the  teacher,  and  the  ruling  elder,  instead  of  being 
in  tliree  ranks  in  a  line  of  promotion,  were  all  in  one  rank. 
And  so,  to  the  other  classes,  the  colonial  church  and  state 


26  tlVE  THEORIES  OF  THE  CHI'RCH. 

must  stand  or  fall,  in  respect  to  their  divine  sanction, 
-according  as  they  agree  with  or  vary  from  a  supposed 
"  pattern  showed  to  Moses  in  the  mount.'"  They  came 
into  being,  as  divine  institutions,  in  the  act  of  conforming 
themselves  to  the  Scriptural  model ;  or  if  not  so  conformed, 
they  never  did  come  into  existence  at  all.^ 

IV.  The  Jacobix  Theoey. — This  theory  represents  the 
hody  politic  or  ecclesiastic,  to  originate  out  of  the 
unorganized  and  unassociated  materials  of  human  society, 
by  a  "  social  compact "  or  "  covenant,"  in  which  all  the 
individuals  agree,  for  the  common  advantage,  to  surrender 
to  the  new  organization — the  vState,  or  the  church — 
sundry  of  their  individual  rights  and  powers,  to  form  the 
common  stock  of  authority  for  the  corporation.  "  The 
whole  body  is  supposed,  in  the  first  place,  to  have 
imanimously  consented  to  be  bound  by  the  resolutions  of 
the  majority ;  that  majority,  in  the  next  place,  to  have 
fixed  certain  fundamental  regulations ;  and  then  to  have 
constituted,  either  in  one  person,  or  in  an  assembly,  a 
standing  legislature."^ 

According  to  this  theory,  the  colonists  of  New  Haven, 
from  the  time  when  they  came  out  from  under  the 
authority  of  the  ship's  captain,  at  least  until  the  close  of 
their  first  day  of  fasting  and  prayer,  when  they  formed 
their  provisional  "  plantation  covenant,"  were  "  in  a  state 
of  nature."     They  were  not  a  community,   but  only  the 

1.  PV^r  some  severe  animadversions  aj?ainst  this  test  of  chureh-hood — against 
"  the  whims  of  theoretic  Biblists"  and  their  "  Text-made  ehnrohes,"  see  Isaac 
Taylor's  Wesley  and  Methodism,  pp.  19y-202. 

2.  Paley's  Moral  and  Political  Philosophy,  Book  VI.  chapter  ;i.  See  also 
Emmons's  Scriptural  Platform  of  C'hvrch  Govervmint,  reviewed  in  tlie  previous 


FIVE  THEORIES  OF  THE  CHURCH.  27 

individuals  who  might  become  a  community  whenever 
they  should  agree  to  act  in  common.  They  were  not 
society,  but  only  the  raw  materials  of  society.  There  was 
neither  a  commonwealth  nor  a  church  among  them,  but 
only  the  possibility  of  these.  By-and-by  they  concluded 
to  have  a  State  and  a  Church,  and  so  they  got  together  in 
a  barn  and  created  them,  appointing  officers  with  divine 
authority  for  administering  the  functions  of  the  two 
institutions — authority  which  up  to  that  time  had  not 
existed  in  the  colony.  Before  that,  the  execution  of  a 
malefactor  would  have  been  an  act  of  murder, — either  of 
private  revenge  or  of  mob-violence.  Defensive  hostilities 
against  the  Indians  would  have  been  simply  the  fighting 
of  every  man  "  on  his  own  hook,'"  except  so  far  as 
individuals  might  have  chosen  to  club  together  according 
to  their  preference  for  leaders.  But  any  exercise  of 
command  on  the  part  of  him  to  whom  the  instincts  of  the 
people  should  turn  as  their  natural  military  leader,  or 
any  attempt  to  coerce  the  shirks  and  the  cowards  into  the 
common  defence,  would  have  been  an  act  of  t3^ranny  and 
usurpation,  there  having  been  no  unanimous  mutual 
agreement  of  the  colonists  to  concede  their  individual 
rights  to  this  extent.  And  when,  after  experiencing  the 
inconveniences  of  the  "  state  of  nature,"  the  colonists 
began  to  frame  their  covenant,  there  was  no  right  among 
them  to  compel  into  the  arrangement  any  individual  who 
preferred,  at  his  own  risk,  to  live  among  them  but  not  of 
them,  as  a  quiet  and  peaceable  outlaw.  The  uncovenanted 
citizen  might  be  derelict  of  a  moral  duty  in  thus  standing 
aloof  from  the  mutual  engagements  of  the  rest,  but  the 
powers  arising  out  of  these  mutual  agreements  of  ninety- 


28  ^^IVE  THEORIES  OF  THE  CHURCH. 

nine  of  the  population  could  not  extend  over  the  one- 
hundredth  man  who  had  declined  to  be  a  party  to  the 
compact. 

Just  so  the  Christian  people  of  the  colony  were  not  a 
church;  but  only  Christian  individuals.  The  administration 
of  baptism  or  the  Lord's  Supper,  before  the  covenant^, 
would  have  been,  if  not  sacrilegious,  at  least  a  grave 
irregularity,  and  an  infraction  of  Congregational  order.. 
The  endeavor  of  them  that  were  spiritual  to  restore  by 
remonstrance  and  admonition  a  wandering  brother,  would 
have  been  the  meddling  of  individuals  in  that  which  thejr 
had  nothing  to  do  with.  The  individual  would  not  have 
been  bound  to  submit  to  it ;  for  ^^  the  obligation  to  submit 
arises  from  the  bond  of  the  covenant,"  ^  and  he  had  never 
made  any  such  contract  with  his  Christian  neighbors.  Any 
attempt  to  report  the  recusant  in  the  weekly  meeting  of 
believers  would  have  been  both  impertinent  and  futile  ;. 
for  the  man  never  agreed  to  suffer  any  such  use  of  his 
name,  and  the  stated  meeting  of  Christians  is  not  a  churchy 
to  "  tell  it  to,"  because  the  members  of  it  have  not  formed 
a  social  compact.  The  exclusion  of  an  obstinate  offender 
from  the  communion  of  saints  is  a  sheer  impossibility, 
because  the  saints  do  not  have  any  communion.  They 
are  men  of  grace  in  a  "  state  of  nature."  If,  at  length, 
the  colonists  hold  a  meeting  in  Mr.  Newman's  barn  to 
arrange  the  terms  of  an  association  for  mutual  care,  and 
contrive  a  covenant  which  should  confer  on  the  members 
and  officers  of  the  institution  the  divine  right  of  enforcing 
a  contract,  it  is  optional  with  those  who  find  themselves 
incommoded  by  too   much   "  watch-care,"  whether  they 


1.  See  Emmons,  who   is   beautifully   explicit    on   this   point.     So:  Platforms 
pp.  5,  7. 


FIVE  THEORIES  OF  THE  CHURCH.  29 

« 

will  enter  into  this  covenant,  or  whether  they  Avill  remain 
as  lookers  on,  or  whether  they  will  form  a  little  separate 
mutual  covenant  among  themselves. 

V.  The  Rational  axd  Scriptural  Theory. — This 
theory,  as  applied  to  the  civil  state,  avoids  encountering 
the  hypothetical  difficulties  suggested  in  what  w^e  have 
called  the  Jacobin  theory,  by  simply  recognizing  the  facts 
of  human  nature.  The  questions  whether  an  aggregation 
of  human  beings  living  together  without  any  mutual 
interests  or  intercourse  is  a  community  or  commonwealth ; 
— whether  "  individuals  are  a  civil  societ}^  before  they 
have  formed  themselves  into  one," — whether  "  unconnected 
individuals,  before  they  have  laid  themselves  under  a 
mutual  engagement "'  ^  are  the  subjects  of  any  common 
authority — are  futile  questions :  as  if  one  should  ask 
whether  a  pile  of  quicksilver  globules  would  constitute  a 
pool  of  quicksilver  before  being  flattened  down  ;  knowing 
that  it  is  the  nature  of  globules  of  quicksilver,  not  to  stand 
in  a  pile  like  cannon-balls,  but  to  flow  together  upon  con- 
tact. A  battae  of  lions  in  an  inclosure  is  not  a  herd  of 
lions,  no  matter  what  discipline  you  may  put  them  under, 
for  the  lion  is  not  a  gregarious  animal.  But  a  collection 
of  horses  or  of  sheep  is  a  herd,  or  a  flock,  at  once,  without 
w^aiting  to  adjust  the  terms  of  an  agreement,  or  to  secure 
the  valid  investiture  or  ascertain  the  pedigree  of  the 
bellwether,  because  horses  and  sheep  are  gregarious. 
You  do  not  have  constitute  them  a  herd, — they  are  a 
herd.  Just  so,  if  you  gather  human  beings  together  in  a 
separate  population,  you  do  not  have  to  make  society  out 

1.  Emmons,  Script.  Platform,  p.  4. 


30  FIVE  THEORIES  OF  THE  CHURCH. 

of  them.  They  are  society;  because  man  is  a  social  animal. 
And  wherever  human  society  is,  there  are  to  be  found, 
either  potentially  or  in  actual  exercise,  all  the  divine 
power  and  authority  of  the  State. 

And  all  the  questions  that  are  raised  among  the  other 
conflicting  theories  of  the  State,  as  to  the  conditions,  channel 
and  credentials  of  divine  authority  residing  in  the  rulers 
of  the  State,  are  shortly  disposed  of,  according  to  the 
rational  and  Scriptural  view,  by  recurring  to  that  fun- 
damental maxim,  "  The  powers  that  be  are  ordained  of 
G-od."  The  government  de  facto,  by  virtue  of  its  being 
the  potver,  is  charged  by  the  Divine  ruler  with  the  respon- 
sibility of  administering  justice  in  the  land,  and  is  entitled 
to  be  respected  and  obeyed  accordingly.  This  is  the  sole 
condition  on  which  divine  authority  is  conferred  on  the 
government  of  any  country — that  it  he  the  government. 
With  this  agrees  the  maxim,  in  its  only  true  meaning, 
that  "all  governments  derive  their  just  powers  from  the 
consent  of  the  governed ;  "  since  if  this  consent,  whether 
voluntary  or  coerced,  active  or  passive,  is  withdrawn,  the 
power  that  was  is  no  longer  the  power,  and  (rod  does  not 
ordain  the  impotencies.  Without  the  actual  possession 
of  the  power,  no  degree  of  de  jure  "  validity  "  amounts  to 
a  divine  commission ; — not  bulls  from  a  pope,  nor  pedi- 
grees running  back  to  King  David  himself,  nor  any  degree 
of  ideal  perfection  tn  the  structure  of  constitution,  nor 
any  certificates  of  a  social  compact  in  a  mass-meeting. 
But,  the  power  being  present,  not  the  absence  of  any  or 
all  of  these  conditions  can  discharge  the  de  facto  govern- 
ment of  its  responsibility,  nor  release  the  individual  from 
his  duty  of  subjection  and  obedience.  Of  course  this 
statement  is  not  to  be  interpreted  to  mean  that  all  methods 


FIVE  THEORIES  OF -^IHE  CHURCH.  31 

of  acquiring  civil  power  are  right,  nor  that  ther#  is  no 
preference  among  forms  of  government ;  neither  is  it  to 
be  applied  to  the  exclusion  of  the  duty  of  disobedience  to 
laws  requiring  sin,  or  of  the  right  of  revolution.  But 
properly  interpreted  and  applied,  this  view  of  civil  duty 
and  authority  is  the  settled  result  of  Christian  ethics. 

Moreover,  there  always  is  an  "  existing  power,"  residing 
in  every  community  of  men,  latent  if  not  active,  which, 
whenever  on  any  emergency  it  is  called  into  exercise  fur 
the  punishment  of  crime  or  the  protection  of  innocence, 
carries  with  it  the  sanction  of  God. 

Applying  these  principles  to  the  case  of  the  New  Haven 
Colony,  we  find  that  before  the  "  constituent  assembly  " 
in  the  barn,  before  the  "plantation-covenant,"  the  colony 
was  already  a  state  ^;  and  so  any  malefactor  who  should 
have  presumed  upon  prevalent  social  theories  to  violate 
public  or  private  rights  or  religious  duties  at  that  early 
period,  would  summarily  have  found  it  to  be.  His  judg- 
ment would  not  a  long  time  have  lingered,  nor  his  con- 
demnation have  slumbered,  waiting  for  a  social  compact 
to  confer  the  authority  of  a  magistrate. 

1  "  If  a  ship  at  sea  shoulii  lose  all  its  officers,  or  a  shipwrecked  crew  be  cast 
upon  a  desert  island^  this  little  community  would  then  stand  in  the  condition  of 
a  State.  The  whole  would  have  the  right  to  restrain  and  constrain  each  one  for 
the  freedom  of  all." — Hickok's  Moral  Science,  p.  2HK 

It  is  necessary  to  guard  against  a  confusion,  which  seems  not  unlikely,  at  the 
present  juncture  (1864),  to  work  some  damage  in  our  public  atfaiis,  between  a 
State,  and  a  State  government.  The  State  govei'nment  is  the  outgrowth  or 
ordinance  of  the  State.  But  by  a  natural  metonymy,  tlie  word  State  is  often 
used  to  mean  the  government. 

P.  S.  The  students  of  "  the  judicious  Hooker"  will  remember  a  passage  in 
the  "  Ecclesiastical  Polity "  strikingly  parallel  to  the  above  from  President 
Hickok.  It  may  seriously  be  doubted  whether  Hooker,  if  he  had  found  himself 
in  New  England,  would  have  felt  that  his  principles  allowed  of  the  course  of 
noncontormity  and  schism,  which  has  been  pursued  by  those  who  call  themselves 
his  disciples  and  justify  their  practices  by  quoting  his  book. 


32  FIVE  TllEORICS  OF  THE  CHURCH. 

The  divine  right  of  government  residing  in  the  little 
commonwealth,  might  have  come  into  exercise  and  mani- 
festation, in  various  ways.    Successive  emergencies  might 
have    occasioned    successive    acts    of   authority,    uemine 
obstante,  which  might  have  become  precedents  for  others, 
and  so  a  body  of  common  law,  and  a  sort  of  British  Con- 
stitution, have  grown  up,   without  one   act   of  deliberate 
legislation  or  foundation.     The  deference  towards  Eaton 
might,   either  explicitly  or  by  the  general  acquiescence, 
have  committed  to  him  the  supreme  government  of  the 
colony,   and  at  his  death  have  transferred  it  to  his  son 
Or  the   long   continued   pressure   of  military   exigencies 
might    have  habituated   the  people  to   martial  law  and 
settled   their  military    leader   into   the    seat   of   general 
authority.    All  these  modes  of  the  origin  of  governmental 
institutions  in  the  colony  are  imaginable;  and  in   any  of 
them  might  have  been  inaugurated  the  power  ordained  of 
(rod.   The  method  of  sitting  down  consciously  and  delibe- 
Tately  to  contrive  the  institutions  under  which  the  inherent 
authority  of  the  State  should  express  itself,  is  doubtless  a 
nobler  way ;  a  way  worthier  of  such  matured  and  reflective 
minds  as  set  up  the  pillars  of  the  New  Haven  Colonj^ — a 
way  which  has  since  become  so  exclusively   the  typical 
American    way    of  organizing  government  that   we  are 
tempted  to  think  it  the  only  way  ;  but  it  is  not  one  whit 
more  valid  in  conferring  divine  authority  than  the   way 
practised  in  the  insurrection  on  the  slaver  Amistad,  when 
the  tallest,  nimblest  and  smartest  negro  in  the  lot  elected 
himself  captain  and  king,   and   exacted  and  received  the 
obedience  of  the  rest. 

Now  bringing  the  force  of  this   extended  analogy  to 
bear  on  our  main  subject  of  the  origin  and  authority  of 


FIVE  THEORIES  OF  THE  CHURCH.  33 

the  church,  we  see  at  once  the  futility  of  those  questions 
whether  a    neighborhood    of    "  visible   saints "    "  living 
members  of  Christ,"  while   "  separate  and  unconnected," 
constitute   a   church   of  Christ;^    whether    "  a  number  of 
Christians    merely    living    in    the    same    city,    town    or 
parish,"'-  but    having   no    common   interests,    no    mutual 
affections,   no  stated  meetings,    and   holding    themselves 
aloof  from   mutual  intercourse,   are  a  church.     The  ques- 
tions are  predicated  on  an  unsupposable  hypothesis.  That 
is  not  the  way  in  which   "  visible  saints "   live.     AYhen 
they  try  to   live   so,   their  sanctity  becomes   invisible  at 
once.     They  are  no  more,    "  visible  saints,"  but  visibly 
un sanctified.     "  By  this  we  know  that  we  have  passed 
from  death  unto  life,  because  we  love  the  brethren."    The 
problem  in  theology  that  begins  with   supposing  a  neigh- 
borhood of  Christians  without  mutual  love  and  intercourse 
under  the  law  of  Christ,   is  as  rational  as  a   problem  in 
magnetism  which  should  be  founded  on  the  supposition  of 
a  collection  of  steel  magnets  having  attraction  towards 
the  pole,  but  no  attraction  for  each  other.     If,  under  the 
laws    of    human    nature,     human    neighborhood    implies 
human  society,  and  human  society  implies  the  state  ;  then 
a  fortiori,  under    the   laws  of    the    regenerated    nature. 
Christian   neighborhood    implies    Christian    society,    and 
Christian  society  implies  the  church.     The  law  of  Christ 
concerning  common  and  mutual  Christian  duties  is  already 
in  force,   and   the   authority   of  administering   its  earthly 
sanctions  resides  with  the  community  of  Christians.^ 

1.  Scr.  Platform,  p.  3. 

2.  Idem.  p.  :'>,  and  pa.ssim. 

3.  It  is  amazinpf  to  see  Dr.  Emmons  walkin-;-  strai^lit  forward,  with  his  oyes 
open,  into  tho  absurdity  that  th(!  law  of  Christ  bej?ins  to  be  binding  on  Christian 
disciples  only  wluui   thoy  have  mutually   a;;rc<'d   to   be  bound    by  it;   and,  by 

3 


34  FIVE  THEORIES  OF  THE  CHURCH. 

As  touching  the  credentials  of  government  in  the 
church,  it  is  hard  to  see  wherein  the  principle  to  be 
applied  differs  from  that  which  obtains  respecting  civil 
government.  Under  the  latter,  the  individual  is  required 
to  "  submit  himself  to  the  powers  that  be."  Under  the 
former,  he  is  required  to  "  obej^  them  that  have  the  rule 
over  him."  In  either  case,  the  wide  generality  of  the 
command,  interpreted  b)^  the  inspired  absence  of  express 
instruction  as  to  the  method  of  appointing  and  inducting 
valid  officers,  points  to  a  like  conclusion : — that,  under 
the  necessary  and  obvious  limitations,  a  de  facto  govern- 
ment, in  church  as  in  state,  is  entitled  to  the  allegiance 
of  its  subjects. 

The  illustration  of  this  view  by  the  instance  of  the 
New  Haven  colony  is  so  obvious  that  it  is  needful  only  to 
hint  the  main  points  of  it.  The  church  which,  according 
to  the  uniform  laws  of  the  Christian  life,  had  crystallized 
out  of  the  ship's  company  during  the  voyage,  having  only 
such  slight,  informal  organization  as  the  circumstances  of 
that  temporary  mode  of  life  required,  was  not  dissolved 
when  the  colonists  landed.  It  was  the  church  authority 
subsisting  among  them  already,  which  was  expressed  in 
the  "  plantation-covenant."  When,  afterwards,  the  town 
was  "  cast  into  several  private  meetings  wherein  they 
that  dwelt  most  together  gave  their  accounts  one  to  an- 
other of  Clod's  gracious  work   upon  them,   and  prayed 


implication  that  it  is  binding  then  only  within  the  bodies  that  may  be  formed  by 
"  elective  affinity."  pp.  4,  .5. 

Quite  in  aeeordaiice  with  the  Doctor's  exegesis  of  Matthew  xviii,  15-17,  is  the 
common  construction  of  the  same  passage,  which  holds  it  to  be  a  sin  to  report  an 
offending  brother  in  the  Iccture-i'oom  of  the  church  until  after  the  "  first  and 
second  steps,"  but  holds  it  permissible  to  advertise  him  "  at  sight  "  in  the  reli- 
gious newspapers,  or  in  a  "  Result  of  Council." 


FIVE  THEORIES  OF  THE  CHURCH.  35 

together,  and  conferred  to  mutual  edification,"'  and  thus 
"  had  knowledge,  one  of  another,"  and  of  the  fitness  of 
individuals  for  their  several  places,  in  the  foundation- 
work,  or  in  the  superstructure,^ — it  is  possible  that  they 
supposed  they  were  preparing  to  orujiimte  the  church ; 
but  it  is  plain  to  the  looker-on  that  the  very  act  of 
"  casting  the  town  into  meetings "  was  an  act  of  the 
church.  And  the  action  of  the  "  constituent  assembly  " 
in  the  barn  was,  like  the  adoption  of  our  present  national 
constitution,  not  the  founding  of  a  new  church  or  state, 
but  the  peaceful  revolution  of  one  already  in  being. 

If,  within  the  territory  occupied  by  the  colony,  a  knot 
of  theorizers  on  politics  had  conspired  to  form  a  separate 
mutual  compact  for  civil  government  among  themselves, 
to  use  a  different  code  of  laws  upon  their  members,  and 
to  secure  a  purer  democracy  or  a  legitimately  descended 
ruler,  the  proper  name  for  the  act  would  have  been 
sedition.  Precisely  so,  when  dissenters  from  the  colonial 
Church  (lid,  for  no  grievance  put  upon  their  conscience, 
but  simply  in  the  prosecution  of  their  Church  theories  or 
prejudices,  split  themselves  from  the  congregation,  and 
refuse  obedience  to  the  existing  government — "  to  them 
that  had  the  rule" — and  insist  on  importing  for  their 
special  use  a  hierarch  in  the  regular  succession,  the  proper 
name  for  their  act  was  schism. 

But  on  the  other  hand,  let  it  be  confessed  that  if  the 
colonial  Church  had  undertaken  to  exclude  from  its 
fellowship  Christian  disciples,  for  causes  not  demanding 
the  censure  of  the  Church,  nor  discrediting  the  profession 
of  a  Christian  faith — if  they    had   reversed    the   gospel 


1.  Bacoir.s  Historical  Discourses,  p.  15». 


3<)  FIVE  THEORIES  OF    THE  cIllTROH. 

principle,  and  proceeded  on  the  notion  that  it  is  better 
that  ten  weak  disciples  should  be  excluded  than  that  one 
deceiver  should  be  admitted — if  thus  they  liad  created 
outside  of  their  communion  a  party  of  Christians  whose 
only  opportunity  of  fellowship  was  in  a  separate  organ- 
ization ;  then  the  sin  of  schism  would  liave  rested  on  the 
heads  not  of  the  few,  but  of  the  many.  The  Church  itself 
would  have  become  schismatic.  But  it  is  fair  to  say  that 
this  does  not  seem  to  have  been  the  sin  of  the  churches  of 
the  first  nor  of  the  second  generation.  The  general  pre- 
valence of  it  is  comparatively  modern. 

Objections  to  this  Theory  of  the  Ciiurch. — The 
objections  to  be  levied  against  what  we  have  called  the 
national  and  Scriptural  Theory  of  the  Church  will  exactly 
correspond  with  those  which  have  been  raised,  to  no 
eft'ect,  against  the  analogous  theory  of  civil  polity.  They 
may  be  treated  with  great  brevity. 

Ohjed'ton  1.  The  principle  proposed,  of  the  duty  of 
deference  to  the  cle  facto  government  of  the  Christian 
community,  cannot  be  accompanied  with  any  distinct  and 
dehnite  limitation,  by  which  the  occasional  exceptions  in 
favor  of  disobedience  or  revolution  can  be  determined. 

The  answer  to  this  is  to  be  found,  not  only  in  the 
parallel  doctrine  and  objection  in  civil  polity,  but  ^  in 
alniost  every  part  of  ethical  science."  So  rarely  is  the 
exact  boundary  between  right  and  wrong  to  be  distinctly 
detined  in  a  fonuula — so  generally  are  the  hnal  t^uestions 
on  the  application  of  moral  rules  left  open  for  the  decision 
of  tlu'  individual  conscience — that  there  is  a  irv'tma  facie 
presumption  against  any  attempt  to  iix  the  course  of  right 
action  on   a  ])oint  of  morals  by   a  fonuula    of  permanent 


VIVK  THEORIES  OE  THE  CHURCH.  37 

and  universal  application.'  The  objection  is  a  clear 
argument  in  our  favor. 

Ohjectlon  2.  Under  the  doctrine  here  laid  down,  it  will 
be  impossible  to  justify  the  Puritan  separations  from  the 
Church  of  England. 

The  first  answer  which  we  would  make  to  this  is  that 
it  is  a  small  matter  to  answer  it  at  all.  The  second,  that  a 
true  judgment  on  those  acts  of  separation  must  depend  on 
the  circumstances  surrounding  each  act ;  on  the  character 
of  the  parish  church  from  which  the  separatists  withdrew — 
whether  it  was  Christian  or  unchristian  ;  on  the  nature  of 
the  grievances  under  which  they  labored,  whether  mere 
annoyances  or  actual  burdens  on  the  conscience  ;  on  the 
probability  of  bringing  the  bodj^  of  the  Christian  disciples 
in  that  community  into  union  under  a  purer  rule.  The 
third  answer  is  that  if  it  does  condemn  the  secession  of 
dissenters  from  the  Church  of  England,  it  therebody 
honors  and  confirms  the  judgment  of  our  Puritan  fore- 
fathers oi  the  best  and  earliest  age,  almost  all  of  whom, 
except  the  Pilgrims  of  Plymouth,  abhorred  the  schism  of 
the  separatists  with  a  holy  horror.  The  fourth  answer 
will  be  conclusive  in  many  minds, — that  the  doubt  which  it 
throws  over  the  Puritan  separations  in  England  is  more 
than  compensated  by  the  discredit  which  it  puts  upon 
many  of  the  Baptist,  Episcopalian,  and  Methodist  schisms 
in  New  England. 

Ohjectlon  3.  This  view  discredits  many  of  the  local 
efforts  for  the  propagation  of  Congregational  institutions 
at  the  West  and  elsewhere,  as  schismatic. 

Answer.  Very  likely. 


1.  See  the  ample  illustration    of  this  matter,    in  its    political  bearing,   in 
Macaulay's  History  of  Enj^^land,  Vol.  ii.,  pp.  lo.s  o,  Harper's  l2mo.  edition. 


38  FIVE  THEORIES  OF  THE  CHURCH. 

Ohjection  4.  This  view  brings  in  practical  difficulty  and 
confusion,  by  making  it  often  a  matter  of  doubt  what  is 
the  Church  of  Christ  in  any  community,  an  I  where  its 
government  resides. 

Ansu-er.  This  difficulty  is  not  peculiar  to  the  ecclesias- 
tical application  of  the  theory.  It  is  of  frequent  occurrence 
in  civil  politics.  Hardly  ever  is  there  a  revolution  or  a 
considerable  attempt  at  revolution,  in  which  it  does  not 
become  a  very  important  and  very  perplexing  question  to 
some  consciences — Which  are  "  the  powers  that  be  ?"  It 
is  a  question  not  only  for  the  passive  and  indiff'erent,  but 
for  the  active  leaders  of  revolution — first  whether  there  is 
ground  and  need  for  revolution,  and  then  whether  the  dis- 
satisfaction of  the  people,  the  incapacity  of  the  adminis- 
tration, and  the  combination  of  favoring  circumstances 
have  or  have  not  charged  them  with  the  power,  and  with  a 
trust  for  the  redress  of  intolerable  grievances,  to  the  dis- 
charge of  which  they  are  ordained  of  Grod.  Not  to  allude 
to  very  recent  questions  of  personal  dut}^  which  may  have 
perplexed  honest  consciences,  the  history  of  the  mission 
of  Dudley  Mann  to  Hungary,  in  quest  of  a  government  to 
recognize,  is  one  case  in  point  Another  is  the  amusing 
story  of  Mr.  John  L.  Stephens,  whose  Travel  was  never  so 
full  of  Incidents  as  when,  with  a  diplomatic  commission 
in  his  pocket,  he  explored  the  various  factions  of  a  Spanish 
American  republic^  in  search  of  the  right  government  to 
which  to  present  it.^ 

It  cannot  invalidate  the  principle  which  we,  have  enun- 
ciated, that  such  difficulties  are  more  frequent  in  eccle- 
siastical politics   than   in   civil.     In  secular  matters,  the 

1.  Incidents  of  Travel  in  Central  America,  Chiapas  and  Yucatan.     By  John 
L.  Stephens. 


FIVE  THEORIES  OF  THE  CHURCH.  39 

necessities  of  society  are  such  that  the  rival  pretensions 
of  different  claimants  to  the  supreme  government  within 
the  same  territory  become  a  nuisance  so  odious  as  to  be 
intolerable  for  an  indetinitel}^  protracted  period  ;  and  as 
for  the  settlement  of  these  claims  by  allowing  each 
claimant  tu  govern  its  OAvn  partisans  according  to  its  own 
laws,  the  plan  is  so  unnatiiralj  so  inimical  to  the  peace  of 
the  community;  that  history  has  shown  no  disposition  to 
repeat  the  solitary  instance  of  it  which  is  found  in  the 
present  constitution  of  the  Turkish  empire,  tempered 
though  it  is,  in  that  instance,  by  the  beneticent  rigors  of 
a  supervising  despotism. 

But  the  union  and  communion  of  all  the  Christian  dis- 
ciples of  any  community,  instead  of  being,  like  political 
union,  a  necessity,  is  only  a  duty.  Consequently  when 
once  factions  have  established  themselves  in  the  Christian 
commonwealth,  there  is  no  necessary  limit  to  their  con- 
tinuance from  year  to  year,  and  from  generation  to 
generation.  In  the  course  of  time  tlje  Christian  mind 
becomes  so  wonted,  and  the  Christian  conscience  so  seared, 
to  the  wrong  and  evil  of  schism,  that  the  doctrine  of  the 
perpetuity  of  schism  is  accepted  as  an  integral  part  of  the 
"  evangelical  scheme,"  and  the  sacred  name  of  the  Church 
loses  its  proper  meaning,  of  the  commonwealth  of  Grod's 
people,  and  becomes  synonymous  with  its  old  opposite,  a 
'alpediq  or  sect.  The  "  problem  of  Christian  union," 
which  in  the  beginning  no  one  ever  thought  of  calling  a 
problem,  is  held  to  be  soluble  only  by  diplomatic  dealings 
between  these  churches,  (which  are  not  churches,)  or  else 
by  setting  up  in  the  vacant  place  formerly  held  by  the 
church,  a  new  institution — a  Young  Men's  Christian  Asso- 
ciation, or  a  Catholic  Basis  City  Tract  Society — that  shall 


40  FIVE  THEORIES  OF  THE  CHURCH. 

be  the   center   of  Catholic  affection  and  the  means  of  the 
communion  of  saints. 

In  this  state  of  a  Christian  neighborhood,  doubtless  the 
question,  Where  is  the  church,  is  a  difficult  one.  One 
thing  about  it  is  plain,  that  it  is  not  to  be  settled  by 
applying  worn-out  tests,  such  as  papal  authority,  apostolic 
succession,  structural  perfection,  or  democratic  origin  to 
any  fragment  of  the  schism,  and  determining  that  to  be 
the  Church.  In  some  cases  it  will  appear  that  there  is  a 
Catholic  church  in  the  place,  from  which  seditious  spirits 
have  torn  themselves  away  in  wanton  schism.  Sometimes, 
that  the  different  churches,  separate  in  name  and  form, 
are  united  in  substance  and  spirit,  that  their  several  pas- 
tors, co-operating  in  every  good  word  and  work,  are 
really  a  presbytery  or  college  of  ministers  for  the  one 
Church  of  Christ  in  the  town.  Sometimes  it  will  appear 
that  the  Catholic  Tract  Society  has  become  a  sort  of 
church  without  ordinances,  and  that  the  president  of  the 
Society  is  actual  bishop  of  the  town.  But  more  commonly 
the  most  that  can  be  said  is  that  the  church  in  such  a 
community  is  existing  in  a  state  of  schism  ;  as,  in  the 
Home  of  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries,  the  authority 
of  the  state  might  properly  be  described  as  dispersed 
among  a  number  of  families  and  factions.  And  the  best 
that  any  one  can  do  in  such  a  case,  is,  while  joining  him- 
self in  special  folbtwship  where  he  will  lend  himself  least* 
to  the  encouragement  of  faction,  always  to  hold  his 
supreme  allegiance  to  be  due  to  the  interests  and  authority 
of  the  irliole  family  that  is  named  of  Christ. 

It  is  much  in  favor  of  any  theory  on  such  a  subject  as 
the  one  which  we  have  in  hand,  that  its  chief  difficulties 
lie  in  matters  of  application  and  detail..    In  these  matters 


FIVE  THEORIES  OF  THE  CHURCH.  41 

we  would  not  speak  with  too  much  confidence.  We  may 
have  wrought  unsuccessfully  in  developing  and  applying 
the  analogy  which  is  the  theme  of  our  article.  But  we 
reach  the  close  of  the  discussion  with  increased  confidence 
that  in  the  just  treatment  of  this  analogy  lies  the  only 
hope  of  solving  the  problem  of  ecclesiastical  polity. 


— >$aii>o.?«te3^^ 


42  CHURCH,  PARISH,  AND  BENEVOLENT  SOCIETY 


11. 


CHURCH,   PARISH,  AND   BENEVOLENT 
SOCIETY* 


The  term  Home  Evangelization  has  come  into  recent 
use  as  the  title  of  an  enterprise  in  some  respects  novel, 
and  has  thus  acquired  a  conventional  and  limited  sense- 
In  this  use,,  it  may  be  defined  as  the  work  of  hringing 
iincler  Christian  care  and  instruction  the  entire  population 
of  a  region  occupied  hy  Christian  clmrclies. 

It  is  one  of  the  three  grand  natural  divisions  of  the 
aggressive  work  of  the  Church.  The  first  is  Foreign 
Missions,  or  the  planting  of  the  Ciospel  and  the  Church  in 

*  Published  in  The  Congregational  Quarterly  for  April,  1862,  under  the  title 
'•  Home  Evangelization."  -fThe  writer  was  at  the  time  '' Missionary  at  Large  '  ' 
for  the  State  of  Connecticuf,  under  appointment  of  the  General  Association  of 
the  State;  and  his  chief  thought  was  to  induce  the  Congregational  churches  of 
that  State  to  accept  the  position  of  the  parish  churches  of  the  State,  leaving  to 
other  sects  the  works  of  specialists  in  religion,  to  gather  tlieir  congregations 
here  or  there  by  "elective  affinity."  In  pursuance  of  this  idea,  he  effected  a 
Moral  and  Religiotis  Census  of  a  large  part  of  the  State,  the  results  of  which  , 
cmbodi(!d  in  an  octavo  volume  of  statistics,  formed  the  basis  of  a  great  deal 
of  good  work.  But  the  sectarian  idea,  as  the  normal  conception  of  the  church, 
is  too  deeply  imbedded  in  the  Cliristian  mind  of  America  to  be  easily  dislodged 
And  wliere  the  sectarian  idea  pr.'vails,  tlie  parish-idea  is  imi)ossible. 


CHURCH,  PARISH,  AND  BENEVOLENT  tiOCIETV.  43 

heathen  lands.  The  second  is  Home  Missions,  or  the 
establishment  and  sustentation  of  Christian  institutions  by 
the  Churches  of  a  Christian  country  in  destitute  regions  of 
the  same.     And  the  third  is  Home  Evangelizations. 

The  name  is  less  convenient  and  determinate  than 
might  be  desired.  The  term  "  Thorough  Cliristianization'" 
has  been  recommended  in  place  of  it;  and,  again,  the 
title  of  "The  Home  Home  Missions"  has  been  aptly 
suggested.  But  the  thing  signified  under  these  various 
titles  is  quite  distinct  and  specific. 

The  Avork  of  Home  Evangelization  differs  more  in  its 
methods  and  agencies  from  Home  and  from  Foreign 
Missions,  than  either  of  these  differs  from  the  other.  The 
main  agency  of  Home  Evangelization  is  the  Church.  In 
the  Mission  work,  on  the  other  hand,  the  Church  is  not  so 
much  a  means  as  an  end;  the  mission-work  proper 
terminating,  for  a  particular  region,  in  the  establishment 
therein  of  pure  and  faithful  churches.  In  estimating  the 
progress  of  a  mission-work,  we  reckon  by  the  number 
of  preachers  commissioned,  of  stations  established,  of 
catechumens  and  converts  gained,  of  churches  gathered  ; 
and  in  planning  mission  operations  it  is  at  once  a  right 
principle  and  an  apostolic  usage,  to  aim  at  main  centers 
of  influence,  and  beyond  this  to  be  guided  by  spiritual 
indications  and  providential  opportunities.  On  the  other 
hand,  we  estimate  the  progress  of  Home  Evangelization 
inversely  by  the  number  of  households  and  souls  in  a 
given  region  yet  unreached  by  Christian  influence  and 
instruction ;  and  in  planning  the  work,  we  make  no  dis- 
crimination in  favor  of  one  community  or  neighborhood  to 
the  exclusion  of  another;  but  so  lay  out  the  work,  by  a 
division    of   the    territory,    as    that    every    soul    of    the 


44  CHURCH,  >»ARI8i[,  AND   BKXEVOLEXT  SOCIETY. 

unevangelized  population  shall  come  at  once  under 
responsible  and  actual  oversight.  In  this  respect,  Home 
Evangelization  differs  from  any  existing  enterprise  of 
denominational  ^^  extension."  Reports  of  General  As- 
semblies and  General  Associations,  "Conventions"  and 
"  Convocations/'  agree  in  this,  that  instead  of  giving 
account  of  progress  made  toward  the  Christianization  of 
the  territories  which  they  represent,  they  report  only 
progress  in  sectarian  aggrandizement  or  decline.  Their 
'*  Narratives  of  the  State  of  Religion"  give  no  intimations 
of  the  State  of  Irreligion.  Their  accounts  of  the  state  of 
the  churches  afford  no  information  of  the  state  of  tJie 
peopl<\  The  absolute  progress  which  is  reported  of  the 
several  denominations,  or  of  all  together,  may  be  a 
relative  loss;  and  while  the  churches  "sit  secure  and 
sing"  of  their  prosperity,  the  gates  of  hell  may  be 
rejoicing  that,  whatever  may  be  the  growth  of  Christ's 
kingdom,  it  is  overmatched  by  the  growth  of  theirs. 

Having  now  defined  Home  Evangelization,  and  dis- 
tinguished it  from  the  missionary  work,  whether  abroad 
or  at  home,  and  from  the  work  ordinarily  taken  in  charge 
by  the  provincial  bodies,  clerical  or  ecclesiastical,  of 
different  denominations, — having  also  indicated,  incident- 
ally, that  the  main  agency  for  Home  Evangelization  is  to 
be  the  CImrcli — we  propose  to  discuss  the  subject  further 
in  the  following  order  : 

I.  In  its  relation  to  the  irulividual  Church; 

II.  In  its  relation  to  the  mutual  organization  of  the 

churches  of  a  given  province  ; 

III.  In  its  relation  to  Societies  external  to  the  organi- 

zation of  the  churches. 


CHURCH.  PARISH,  AXl)  BENEVOLENT  SOCIETY.  45 

I.  Home  Evangelization  hi  'ds  relation  to  the  individual 
Churrh. 

When  the  fact  has  been  successfully  pressed  on  the 
attention  of  a  New  England  village  or  country  town,  that 
there  is  present  in  their  ])opulation  a  very  large  irreligious 
element,  outside  of  all  ordinary  Church  influences  and 
"  means  of  grace,"  one  of  the  first  remarks  to  be  expected 
from  among  the  more  earnest  of  the  people,  is  that  "  we 
ought  to  form  a  Society  to  inquire  into  and  attend  to  this 
matter."  Some  recommend,  at  once,  to  form  a  local  Bible 
or  Tract  Society,  ("Auxiliary,"  &c. ;  )  to  which  the 
objection  is  obvious  that  as  neither  Bible  nor  tract 
circulation  is  going  to  accomplish  the  whole  of  the  work 
proposed,  nor  even  any  considerable  part  of  it ;  and  as 
the  Society,  if  organized,  could  not  afford  to  limit  itself  to 
these  modes  of  operation,  it  would  not  he  a  Tract  Society, 
and  had  better  not  call  itself  one.  A  "  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association"  is  suggested,  which  is  incompetent 
to  the  work  for  like  reasons.  There  is  no  reason  in 
excluding  aged  or  middle-aged  Christians,  or  Christian 
w^omen,  from  a  share  in  the  Avork,  and  there  are  some 
parts  of  it  that  cannot  be  well  done,  except  by  women.  If 
it  were  further  considered  what  sort  of  a  Society  it  should 
be  which  could  advantageously  undertake  the  evangeliza- 
tion of  the  township,  it  would  be  found  desirable  to  have 
it  organized  for  permanence;  constituted  of  all  classes  of 
good  Cliristians,  with  as  little  mixture  as  possible  of 
unbelievers  ;  equipped  witli  all  necessary  officers  and 
ministers,  but  able  to  accommodate  itself  readily  in  this 
to  the  exigencies  of  the  work ;  having  arrangements  and 
accommodations  for  frequent  stated  meetings,  where  plans 
may  be  laid  and  reports  received,  and  labor  may  be  kept 


46  CHLKCH,  PARISH.  AND  BENEVOLENT  SOCIETY. 

in  the  closest  possible  relation  to  prayer^  and  worship^ 
and  the  study  of  the  Divine  Will.  In  short,  v^e  should 
have  described  to  us  a  Churcli.  And  in  any  community 
occupied  by  a  Church,  to  establish  a  separate  "  Society  " 
for  the  evangelization  of  the  neighborhood,  would  be 
simply  to  erect  a  rival  to  the  Church,  assuming  to  itself 
some  of  the  most  important  functions  belonging  to  the 
Church  by  virtue  of  its  divine  constitution, — functions 
vv^ithout  the  exercise  of  which  the  Church  decays. 

There  is  one  notable  argument  urged  in  favor  of 
depending  on  a  Society  for  Systematic  Home  Evangeliza- 
tion, rather  than  on  a  Church ;  to  wit,  that  it  is  "  good 
and  pleasant,  like  the  precious  ointment  upon  the  head ;  " 
that  in  a  work  like  this,  of  common  interest  to  all 
Christians,  believers  of  different  sentiments  and  denomina- 
tions should  have  the  opportunity  of  openly  uniting. 

The  argument  is  suggested  by  a  right  and  truly 
Christian  impulse,  and  founded  on  a  misconception  as  to 
the  sphere  and  organ  of  Christian  fellowship,  too  generally 
prevalent,  and  too  tenaciously  rooted  in  prejudices  and 
institutions  to  be  here  refuted  in  a  few  words,  but  which 
it  is  essential  to  the  subject  in  hand  distinctly  to  indicate. 
The  impulse  is  that  yearning  for  the  unity  of  the  Church 
and  that  love  of  all  the  brethren,  which  (notwithstanding 
all  apologies  for  sects,  and  pleas  for  perpetual  schism  put 
forth  in  the  name  of  catholicity,)  are  ever  among  ''■  the 
distinguishing  traits  of  Christian  character."  The  mis- 
conception consists  in  believing  that  a  Church  is,  and 
ought  to  be,  the  embodiment  of  a  schism,  the  repre- 
sentative of  a  party,  the  fractional  part  of  "  a  denomina- 
tion;" and  that  the  proper  and  divinely  intended  sphere 
of  Christian  fellowship,  of  "  the  communion  of  saints  "  on 


CHURCH.  I'AHISH-  AND  BENEVOLENT  SOCIETY.  .     47 

the  simple  basis  of  the  one  faith,  is  not  the  Church,  but — 
the  Tract  Society.  If  you  desire  Christian  anion  in  the 
evangelization  of  your  town,  (and  you  ought  to  desire  it,) 
seek  it  by  making  your  Church  a  catholic  Church,  instead 
of  a  schismatic  one.  Take  down  your  diplomatic  statement 
of  theological  dogmas  from  where  it  now  stands,  as  a  bar 
to  membership,  and  receive  henceforth,  "  whosoever 
will,"  for  the  evidence  that  they  believe  on  Christ,  and 
not  for  their  profession  of  what  they  believe  ahout  him. 
Then  you  will  have-  '^  Christian  union,"  not  only  in  this, 
but  in  every  other  proper  work  of  the  Church  ;  and  if 
after  that  your  Calvi^ists  or  your  Arminians,  your 
Episcopalians  or  your  Baptists,  or  your  Congregationalists, 
desire  scope  for  their  various  peculiarities  of  belief/ 
commend  them  to  their  respective  tract  societies  and 
'^  benevolent  institutions." 

One  highly  practical  objection  to  substituting  a  Society 
for  a  Church,  in  the  work  now  under  consideration,  is 
this  :  that  the  Society  is  a  temporary  institution,  the 
Church  a  permanent  one.  Let  interest  in  the  work  decay, 
and  the  Society  intermits  its  meetings,  and  by  and  by 
expires.  But  however  remiss  in  particular  duties  the 
Church  may  become  for  the  time,  it  continues  in  being, 
ready  for  the  return  of  the  poiver.  The  Church  is  built  on 
a  rock.     The  "  auxiliary  tract  society  "  is  not. 

How  the  Church  should  conduct  the  work  of  thoroughly 
evangelizing  its  own  parish,  is  a  large  question.  It 
includes  almost  the  Avhole  subject  of  the  administration  of 
an  American  church,  parish,  and  "  ecclesiastical  society." 
The  literature  of  this  subject  is  singularly  meagre, 
considering  its  importance,  and  the  fact  that  it  is  the  field 


48  CHURCH,  PARISH,  AND  BENEVOLENT  SOCIETY. 

of  a  distinct  professorship  in  so  many  theological 
seminaries.  On  the  conduct  of  a  family,  of  a  school,  of  a 
Binging-school,  of  a  Sunday-school,  we  have  methodical 
and  systematic  treatises  in  abundance,  giving  useful 
directions  in  full  detail.  But  when  an  inexperienced 
young  man,  about  to  enter  on  the  work  of  a  pastor,  asks 
to  be  referred  to  a  convenient  and  judicious  manual 
for  his  guidance,  what  book  have  we  to  recommend  to 
him  ? 

Of  course  there  is  no  room  fur  us  in  this  Article  to 
state  more  than  the  merest  outline  of  the  work  of  a 
church  in  its  parish. 

First,  Have  a  Parish.  That  man  will  deserve  well  of 
American  Christianity  who  shall  restore  to  its  vocabulary 
the  lost  word  paydsli,  in  its  proper  use  and  meaning.  In 
our  time  and  countr}^,  a  minister's  parish  consists  of  the 
families  who  take  pews  in  the  meeting-house,  or  in  some 
such  way  voluntarily  connect  themselves  with  the 
congregation.  When  a  minister  speaks  of  the  size  of  his 
parish,  he  means  the  number  of  families  who  thus  put 
themselves  expressly  under  his  charge,  or  perhaps  the 
extent  of  the  area  within  which  they  reside.  When  he  has 
gone  the  round  of  these  families,  he  has  visited  his  whole 
parish.  There  are  other  families  within  the  same  area, 
that  belong  to  the  Baptist  or  Episcopalian  or  Eoman- 
catholic  parish,  and  a  large  number  that  belong  to  no 
parish  at  all. 

Now  in  the  original  and  proper  use  of  the  word,^  it 
means  a  territorial  precinct  allotted  to  a  particular  church 


1.  Wo  likeb(!8t  the  dtti-ivation  of  this  word  from  the  low  Latin  pa7*oc7im,  and 
Greek  '^'y.^'-iy-'-y—dwellinq  near,  i.  (\,  aU  the  people  who  live  near  cnouj?h  to  a 
4ihurcli  tu  receive  its  influence. 


CHURCH,  PARISH,  AND  BENEVOLENT  SOCIETY.  49 

as  its  field  of  missionary  labor,  within  which  that  church 
shall  be  responsible  that  no  family  is  left  without  Christian 
care  and  instruction.^ 

Without  assuming  a  circumscribed  territory  as  its 
field,  no  church  can  do  anything  effective  and  systematic 
in  the  way  of  Home  Evangelization.  Without  a  parish,  it 
may  do  mission-work,  selecting  the  best  points  for  new 
stations  and  centres  of  usefulness,  and  aiming  at  great 
achievements  in  the  propagation  of  the  faith ;  but  it 
cannot  labor,  distinctly  and  determinately,  for  the 
evangelization  of  tlie  tohole  population,  since  tlw  ivliole 
is  an  indefinite  quantity. 

Consequently,  the  imrish  is  one  of  the  earliest  of 
Christian  institutions,  being  next  in  order  of  time  to  the 
Church.  Without  taking  time  and  space  here  to  hunt  up 
authorities  to  sustain  the  remark,  we  may  safely  assert 
that  one  of  the  earliest  steps  after  the  general  establish- 
ment of  churches  throughout  the  earlier  lands  of  the 
gospel,  must  have  been  the  more  or  less  formal  recognition 
by  neighboring  pastors  and  churches  of  the  bounds  of 
their  respective  dioceses  or  parishes,  whereby  the  special 
responsibility  of  each  for  the  thorough  dissemination  of 
religious  truth  should  be  defined.  To  this  day,  in  countries 
of  early,  or  of  medieval  Christianity,  the  parish-system — 
hindered  and  stunted  indeed  by  the  overgrowth  of  corrup- 
tions— is  extant  and  useful. 

In  England,  for  instance,   where  this   system  has  had 


1.  Doubtless  many  other  ideas  are  associated  with  this  word  parish, — as,  for 
instance,  the  idea  of  prerogative  and  exclusive  spiritual  jurisdiction,  and  the 
idea  of  taxation  for  the  support  of  the  parish  minister ;  and  doubtless  these 
associations  have  had  much  to  do  in  excluding'  the  word  from  its  proper  dse.  But 
it  is  used  in  this  article,  simply  with  reference  to  missionary  or  evangelizing 
operations.    It  docs  not  necessarily  include  more. 


50  CHURCH,  PARISH,  AND  BENEVOLENT  SOCIETY. 

much  to  contend  with,  in  the  deficiencies  of  the  parish 
clergy,  and  the  withdrawal  of  great  masses  of  the  people 
into  a  position  of  dissent,  it  is  still  the  chief  defense  of 
great  tracts  and  populations  from  barbarism  and  utter 
heathenism; — it  has  provided  some  sort  of  responsible 
care — in  name  at  least — for  every  household  in  the  king- 
dom. It  is  not  without  reason  that  thd  Edinhurgh  Revieiv,^ 
not  wont  to  be  lenient  toward  public  abuses,  has 
pronounced  "  the  parochial  system  to  be  one  of  the  greatest 
and  most  beneficent  of  our  national  institutions." 

The  idea  of  the  parish  as  a  practical  necessity  to  the 
church,  was  clearly  conceived  and  fitly  appreciated  by  the 
fathers  of  New  England.  We  may  be  permitted  to  speak 
more  specifically  of  Connecticut,  where  the  definite 
responsibility  of  every  church  for  its  own  neighborhood — 
its  duty  of  providing  Christian  instruction  and  care  for  all 
within  the  fixed  boundaries  of  its  parish,  were  recognized 
in  the  legislation  of  the  State.  The  whole  territory  of  the 
State  was  divided  and  allotted  to  difi'erent  churches. 
There  was  no  hovel  so  lonely  or  remote,  no  wanderer  so 
friendless,  no  man  so  outcast  and  degraded,  as  to  be 
unprovided  with  a  pastor.  And  not  only  this,  but  every 
church  was  provided  with  a  charge — a  mission-field.^ 
There  was  no  opportunity  for  any  church  in  that  great 
fellowship  of  churches  which  then  as  now  occupied  the 
surface  of  the  State — eased  of  its  responsibility  for  the 
soil  on  which  it  stood — forgetful  of  the  heathen  at  its 
doors — to  say  to  itself,  "  Soul,  take  thine  ease  ;  thou  art 

1.  Edinburgh  Review,  April  1853.  Article  on  "  The  Church  of  England  in  the 
Mountains." 

2.  There  were  early  exceptions  to  this,  but  they  were  so  rare  as  to  "  prove  the 
rule."  The  South  Church  in  Hartford  was  organized,  in  1669,  without  delinite 
parochial  limits. 


CHURCH,  PARISH,  AND  BENEVOLENT  SOCIETY.  51 

rich  and  increased  in  goods ;  thy  services  are  edifying ; 
thy  congregations  are  fall  and  devout:  thy  brotherhood  of 
communicants  is  increasing;  thy  pews  are  all  rented  and 
occupied ;  thy  pewholders'  families  are  all  visited  by  the 
pastor;  thy  pewholders'  children  all  attend  the  Sunday- 
school  ;  soul;  take  thine  ease  ! "  The  poor  were  always 
with  them;  and  not  only  the  poor  of  the  church,  but  the 
poor  of  "  the  society"  or  parish.^  Not  for  the  souls  of 
their  church-goers  only,  but  also  for  the  souls  of  those 
who  ought  to  have  been  fellow-worshippers  with  them,  but 
were  not  worshippers  at  all,  the  church  was  made  to  feel 
that  it  was  specially  accountable  to  God  and  to  its  sister 
churches, — accountable,  not  for  a  congregation  only,  but 
for  a  parish.^ 

1.  It  is  almost  unaccountable  that  our  fathers,  so  intelligently  holding  on  to 
the  idea  of  the  parish,  should  have  rejected  tVe  loord,  and  substituted  for  it,  in  its 
application  to  a  territorial  precinct  the  awkward  phrase,  "  Ecclesiastical 
Society."  They  used  the  word  parish  malo  sensu.  Perhaps  they  though  it 
easier  to  use  a  new  name,  and  an  awkward  one,  than  to  recover  the  old  one 
from  unpleasant  associations. 

2.  The  ditferenee  between  a  parish  ministbr  and  the  minister  of  a  congregation, 
in  the  English  Church,  is  thus  delineated  by  Conybeare,  in  the  famous  article  in 
the  Edinburgh  Review,  (Oct.  1853,)  entitled  "Parties  in  the  Church  of  England." 
The  sketch  requires  but  trifling  modification  to  adapt  it  to  our  own  meridian. 

Their  theory  [i.e.  that  of  the  "  Recordite"  or  ultra-Evangelieal  clergy] 
naturally  leads  them  to  neglect  the  mass  of  their  parishioners,  and  confine  their 

attention  to  the  few  whom   they  regard  as   the  elect But,  in   truth,  a 

Recordite  clergyman  is  out  of  his  element  in  a  parish.  When  he  has  one, 
indeed,  he  often  labors  most  conscientiously  among  his  parishioners;  but 
the  parochial  system,  with  its  practical  recognition  of  the  brotherhood 
of  all  Christians,  cannot  be  made  to  square  Avith  his  theological 
exclusiveness.  What  he  likes  is,  not  a  parish,  but  a  congregation.  The 
possession  of  a  chapel   in  a  large   town,   which    he   may    till  with  his  own 

disciples,  is  his  ideal  of  clerical  usefulness In  fact,  few  positions  are,  in  a 

worldly  point  of  view,  more  enviable  that  of  a  popular  incumbent  of  a  town 
chapeL  No  vestry  patriots  vex  his  meditative  moments  ;  no  squabbles  with  tithe- 
abhorring  farmers  disturb  his  sleep.  When  he  looks  round  from  his  pulpit,  his 
glance  is  not  met,  like  that  of  the  parochial  clergyman,  by  the  stare  of 
stolidity  or  indifference;  but  he  beholds  a  throng  of  fervent  worshipers,  who 
hang  upon  his  lips,  and  whose  very  presence  as  voluntary  members  of  his 
congrej^ation  is  a  pledge  of  their  personal  attachment  to  himself.  There  is 
something  not  merely  soothing  to  vanity,  but  animating  to  the  better  parts  of 
his  nature,  in  such  a  spectacle.  'J'he  zealous  man  must  feel  his  zeal  quickened, 
the  pious,  his  piety  warmed,  by  such  evidence  of  sympathy;  and  among  the 
Recordite  clergy,  men  of  zeal  and  piety  are  not  lacking.    But  besides  these 


52  CHURCH,  PARISH,  AND  BENEVOLENT  SOCIETY. 

Under  the  next  division  of  this  article,  we  shall  mention 
again  the  obvious  necessity  of  division  into  parishes,  for 
the  evangelization  of  a  province,  by  the  concurrent  labors 
of  many  churches.  The  point  of  the  present  argument  is 
that  the  recognition  of  definite  territorial  limits  to  its 
field  of  labor  is  essential  to  systematic,  hopeful  and 
efi'ective  labor  for  "home  evangelization"  in  an  individual 
Church. 

Secondly,  having    "first  got  a  parish,"  understand  the 

CONDITION  OF  IT. 

Among  the  points  to  be  inquired  after,  are 

1.  The  population  of  the  parish. 

2.  The  number  of  church-going  families  in  it. 

3.  The  number  of  non-church-going  families. 

4.  The  total"  number  of  church-sittings. 

5.  The  total  church  attendance,  counted  on  two  or 
three  successive  fair  Sundays. 

6.  The  total  church  membership  of  the  parish,  of  all 
denominations. 

7.  The  number  of  children  in  the  parish,  as  officially 
reported  to  the  State. 

8.  The  proportion  of  these  in  the  Sunday  Schools. 

advantag-es,  he  is  exempted  from  all  the  more  burdensome  responsibilities  of  the 
pastoral  charge.  His  flock  consists  exclusively  of  the  wealthy  or  easy  classes, 
so  tliat  tl)e  painful  task  of  attempting-  to  enlighten  brutal  ignorance,  and  to  raise 
dcfjraded  pauperism  is  not  among  his  duties.  Even  if  a  local  district  has  been 
nominally  attached  to  his  chapel,  its  poor  inhabitants  form  no  part  of  his 
congregation,  or,  at  most,  only  a  straggling  representative  of  their  class  lurks 
liere  and  there,  behind  tlie  pulpit  or  beneath  the  organ.  The  duties  of  such  a 
district,  if  there  be  any.  are  performed  l)y  the  curate,  wlio  reads  the  prayers,  and 
la  kept  to  "s(!rve  tables,"  while  the  incumbent  devotes  himself  to  "the  ministry 
of  the  Word." 

His  ministry  consists  essentially  in  preaching  two  extempore  sermons  on  the 
Sunday.  But  there  are  other  duties  incidentally  pertaining  to  his  office.  One  of 
the  most  important  is  that  of  attending  the  evening  parties  of  his  wealthier 
adherents,. . . 

Undoubtedly  there  is  a  strain  of  caricature  in  the  above,  and  still  more  in 
some  of  the  succeeding  paragraphs  of  that  lively  article.  But  the  force  of  the 
caricature  lies  in  the  large  element  of  truthful  delineation  which  it  contaittS. 


CHURCH,  PARISH,  AND  BENEVOLENT  SOCIETY.  53 

9.  What  are  the  efforts  already  in  operation  to  reach 
the  unevangelized  ?  And  with  what  success  have  they 
been  attended  ? 

10.  What  influences  are  operating  against  the  gospel  ? 
To  what  extent,  and  with  what  success  are  they  engaged  ? 
For  example,  dram-shops,  gambling  "  saloons,"  houses  of 
ill-fame,  infidel  lectures  and  clubs,  demoralizing  amuse- 
ments. 

1 1 .  What  are  the  resources  of  the  church  for  its  work  ? 
The    town   must    be  one  of  unusual  sanctity,   or  the 

church  one  of  unusual  intelligence,  in  which  the  answers 
to  some  of  these  questions  are  not  found  startling  and 
awakening  in  a  high  degree.  And  simply  for  this  end,  as 
a  stimulus  to  exertion,  and  as  itself  an  earnest  of  thorough 
work  to  come,  the  thorough  exploration  of  the  parish  will 
be  worth  all  that  it  costs.  Ordinarily  it  will  not  cost 
much,  either  in  money  or  in  labor.  In  country  towns  and 
small  villages  each  family  knows  all  about  its  neighbors, 
for  a  considerable  distance,  in  every  direction ;  and  the 
information  furnished  at  second-hand  is  often  more 
detailed  and  more  trustworthy,  than  could  be  got  by 
inquiries  from  house  to  house.  In  cities,  the  labor  is  far 
greater,  to  be  sure,  but  then  the  resources  of  the  city 
churches  are  every  way  superior. 

But  the  great  value  of  such  inquiries  to  stimulate  and 
arouse  the  church,  is  not  their  highest  value.  They  are 
needed,  not  only  in  their  gross  results,  but  in  full  detail, 
in  making  out  the  plan  of  operations  of  the  church. 
Thorough  inquiry  is  essential  to  intelligent  and  effective 
operations.  The  church,  or  at  least  the  pastor,  must 
have  before  the  eye  a  minute  map  of  the  field,  and  work 
by  it. 


54  CHURCH,  PARISH,  AND  BENEVOLENT  SOCIETY. 

Thirdly,  Active  operations. 

The  powers  of  the  Church,  in  its  conflict  with  the 
kingdom  of  darkness,  are  (according  to  the  classification  of 
Dr.  Chalmers,)  Attractive  and  Aggressive.  Our  subject 
is  concerned  with  both  classes,  but  chieflv  with  the  latter. 

What  particular  measures  shall  be  adopted  by  a 
particular  church  in  a  paracular  parish,  must  be  deter- 
mined, in  great  measure,  in  view  of  the  results  of  the 
inquiry  which  has  just  been  recommended.  To  insist  on  a 
routine  of  operations  for  all  parishes  alike,  would  be 
quackery. 

But  there  is  one  measure  recommended  by  primitive 
and  apostolic  usage,  which  must  underlie  all  others,  and 
that  measure  is  Systematic  Visitation  from  house  to  house. 
Whether  among  the  other  means  of  the  church's  activity, 
one  or  the  other  is  to  have  the  greater  prominence, — 
whether  the  Sunday  School,  or  Bible  reading,  or  Tract 
distribution,  or  Mission- chap  els,  or  open-air  preaching, 
they  must  all  depend,  for  their  best  efficiency,  on  labor 
from  house  to  house.  Undoubtedly,  at  the  same  time, 
for  its  hest  efficiency,  systematic  visitation  depends,  in 
turn,  on  its  connection  with  some  or  all  of  these  other 
forms  of  labor,  and  its  relation  to  the  church  and  its 
ministry. 

This  measure  of  Systematic  Visitation  has  become  the 
subject  of  a  literature  of  its  own,  and  need  not,  therefore, 
be  described  at  length  here. 

Fourthly,  Organization  of  the  Church  for  the 
WORK  OF  Home  Evangelization. 

One  way  of  organizing  for  this  work  would  be  to  luxve 
a  Society  within  the  Church,  specially  devoted  to  it.  But 
inasmuch  as   the   work  devolves,   as   a  duty,   on  all  the 


CHURCH,  PARISH,  AND  BENEVOLENT  SOCIETY.  55 

members  of  the  church,  according  to  their  several  gifts, 
such  a  society  would  be  substantially  an  "  ecclesiola  in 
ecdesia,'"  and  might  tend  to  schism.  Nevertheless,  where 
the  mass  of  the  church  is  indolent  or  unfaithful,  it  might 
be  necessary  for  those  willing  to  work  to  get  together  by 
themselves.  An  example  of  this  sort  of  organization  is 
to  be  found  in  the  "  church-guilds  "  of  some  Episcopalian 
churches. 

But  the  normal  and  best  method,  is,  doubtless,  that  the 
church,  as  such,  should  enter  the  work.  It  is  divinely 
organized  for  this  already.  It  would  be  difficult  to  suggest 
a  form  of  institution  for  local  evangelization,  better  fitted 
for  all  possible  exigencies  of  the  work,  than  the  no-form 
of  the  primitive  church.  What  officers  it  needs,  it  takes. 
If  there  is  extra  service  of  "  daily  ministration,"  it  "  looks 
out "  for  a  committee  of  deacons.  For  all  other  uses,  it 
has  officers  to  correspond  :  "  first,  apostles  ;  secondarily, 
prophets  ;  thirdly,  teachers  ;  after  that,  miracles  ;  then 
gifts  of  healings,  helps,  governments,  diversities  of 
tongues," — not  only  tJi^^ee  orders  of  ministers,  but  four — 
five — a  dozen,  if  there  is  occasion  for  them.  The  one 
constant  thing  in  the  constitution  of  the  primitive 
churches,  is  that  it  is  constantly  flexible  and  variable, 
•according  to  the  exigencies  of  time,  place  and  need.  It 
would  be  impossible  more  strictly,  at  this  hour,  to  define, 
a  priori,  the  form  of  the  best  organization  for  Home 
Evangelization. 

II.  Home  Evangelization  in  its    relation   to    the 

MUTUAL     organization.    OF     THE     CHURCHES     OF     A     GIVEN 
PROVINCE. 

It  is  obvious   that   when  a  certain  province  is   to   be 


56  CHURCH,  PARISH,  AND  BENEVOLENT  SOCIETY. 

evangelized  by  the  joint  labors  of  several  churches  within 
it,  these  labors  must  be  prosecuted  by  the  individual 
churches,  not  only  in  general  sympathy  and  in  pursuit  of 
a  common  end,  but  with  explicit  concert,  and  stated 
mutual  consultation.  Such  consultation  is  necessary  in 
order  to  a  distribution  of  the  field  into  parishes,  without 
which  some  parts  of  the  field  will  be  disproportionately 
tended,  and  other  parts  neglected  ;  in  order  to  the  incite- 
ment of  mutual  responsibility,  without  which  the  parishes 
of  some  churches  will  be  like  the  field  of  the  sluggard, 
and  there  will  be  no  provision  for  "giving  them  unto 
other  husbandmen;"  and  in  order  to  free  mutual  com- 
munication and  public  report  of  means  used,  and  results 
attained,  the  use  of  which  will  tend  to  give  stability  to 
the  work.    . 

That  such  alliance  of  churches  for  this  object  may  be 
joined  between  churches  of  diff'erent  denominations,  is 
proved  by  a  happy  experiment  in  the  city  of  Brooklyn^ 
And  this  alliance  is  not  liable  to  the  objection  to 
confederations  on  the  "  Catholic  basis, '^  inasmuch  as  it 
implies  no  compromise  of  individual  convictions,  and  no 
pledge  of  neutrality.  But  the  parties  to  such  an  under- 
standing come  into  it  as  churches,  and  not  as  parts  of  a 
"  denomination."  Any  diplomacy  between  the  repre- 
sentatives of  diff'erent  sects,  would  inevitably  wind  up  in  a 
quarrel. 

But  there  are  a  few  cases  in  which  the  whole  territory 
of  a  State  is  fairly  occupied  by  the  churches  of  a  single 
denomination.^      In    such    cases,    arrangements    for    the 

1.  It  is  remarkable  that  the  only  instances  of  this,  in  the  United  States,  are  the 
cases  of  the  general  prevalence  of  Congregationalism,  in  the  New  England 
States.  All  the  early  Church  establishments  of  other  denominations  in  onr 
country  have  been  supplanted  on  the  soil  which  they  once  occupied.  Episcopacy 


CHURCH,  PARISH,  AND  BENEVOLENT  SOCIETY.  57 

thorough  Evangelization  of  the  State,  need  not  depend  on 
the  success  of  any  negotiation  between  churches  of 
different  sentiments.  The  arrangements  can  be  made,  and 
ought  to  be  made,  by  "  the  standing  order."  They  ought 
to  assume,  not  the  honors  or  prerogatives,  but  the  duties, 
which  belong  to  parish  churches. 

These  duties  were  the  birthright  of  the  Puritan  churches 
of  New  England.  But  they  show  a  willingness  to  sell  this 
birthright  without  getting  so  much  as  a  mess  of  pottage 
in  exchange  for  it.  When  the  territorial  charge  of  each 
church  ceased  to  be  marked  out,  for  purposes  of  taxation, 
by  the  Legislature,  it  ought  to  have  been  designated  for 
purposes  of  evangelization,  by  the  council  or  conference 
of  churches.  If  that  had  constantly  been  done,  the  mission- 
field  of  each  church  would  have  been  distinct;  the  whole 
territory  would  have  been  parcelled  out  to  the  responsible 
care  of  the  churches.  The  charge  of  each  church  would 
have  been  separated  from  that  of  its  neighbor  by  cleancut 
lines,  instead,  as  now,  of  broad,  vague  bands  of  neutral 
territory,  liable  to  be  ravaged  by  local  or  sectarian 
rivalry,  or  (more  commonly)  to  fall  under  neglect,  and  be 
given  over  to  ignorance,  under  the  plea  of  a  lack  of 
special  responsibility,  and  the  fear  of  trenching  on  the 
field  of  one's  neighbor.  The  authentic  returns  made  to 
the  Connecticut  Home  Evangelization  Committee,  show 
that  the  worst  desolations  of  that  State  lie  in  these  neutral 
regions  midway  between  the  country  churches. 

There  are  sundry  objections  suggested  against  the  plan 
of  an  union  of  the  Congregational    churches,   say  of  a 

has  at  times  almost  died  out  in  Maryland,  Virj?inia,  and  the  Carolinas. 
Congregationalism  only  lias  shown  the  qualities  of  stability  and  tenacity  of  life. 
For  authorities  and  figures,  see  the  "Report  of  Connecticut  Home  Evangelization 
Committee  for  1860." 


58  CHURCH,  PARISH,  AND  BENEVOLENT  SOCIETY. 

county  or  half-county,  for  the  common   interests  of  their 
local  aggressive  vv^ork : 

1.  That  it  would  be  exclusive  and  sectarian. 

As  Congregational  churches  are  actually  organized  and 
administered,  on  a  schismatic  basis,  v^^ith  a  "  cunningly 
devised"  formula  of  admission  to  keep  out  from  their 
membership  all  but  the  eligible  sort  of  Christians, — the 
objection  is  not  Avithout  force.  But  it  is  to  be  obviated, 
not  by  a  compact  between  one  order  of  schismatic 
churches  and  another,  by  which  mutual  toleration  shall 
be  secured,  and  schism  be  recognized  as  a  Christian 
institution  5  but  by  making  the  parif^h  church  themselves 
catholic  or  "  union"  bodies,  and  leaving  no  excuse  for 
schism.  This  remark  opens  into  a  large  subject,  for  which 
we  have  no  room  at  present. 

2.  That  people  will  not  be  governed  by  any  parish 
lines  in  deciding  to  what  churches  they  will  belong. 

Of  course  not ;  and  as  this  division  is  not  proposed  to 
affect  the  relation  of  a  church  to  the  church-going 
people,  but  only  to  aid  in  its  mission-work  among  the 
non-church-goers,  the  parish  lines  will  not  interfere  with 
the  largest  liberty  of  any  worshipper. 

3.  That  it  Avould  be  imposssible  to  restrain  any  church 
from  doing  good  as  it  has.  opportunity,  whether  in  its  own 
parish  or  in  that  of  another  church;  or,  if  possible,  it 
would  be  wrong. 

And  here,  again,  the  objection  grows  out  of  a  miscon- 
ception of  the  proposal;  the  plan  is  simply  that  each 
church  shall  have  a  distinct  field  for  which  to  be  specially 
responsible,  without  suffering  any  restraint  on  its  surplus 
activity  on  other  fields. 

4.  That  you  could  not  compel  a   church   to  enter   into 


CHURCH,  PARISH,  AND  BENEVOLENT  SOCIETY.  59 

this  arrangement,  or  to  undertake  and  prosecute  the  work 
in  its  appointed  parish. 

Which  is  true.  The  church  could  be  Invited  by  its 
neighbors  to  co-operate  in  a  work  of  common  importance 
to  all  the  churches  and  to  their  Head.  The  boundaries  of 
its  field  could  be  arranged  by  agreement  among  its 
neighbors.  If  a  church  declined  to  report  the  progress  of 
its  parish-work,  the  neighbor  churches  might  send  thither 
and  inquire  into  the  facts — we  have  no  law,  yet,  (in 
Connecticut)  against  asking  questions — and  report  the 
result.  If  a  church  was  remiss  in  its  work,  the  fact  might 
appear  in  the  annual  report  on  the  progress  of  religion  in 
the  district.  If  a  church  should  obstinately  refuse  to  labor 
for  the  unevangelized  in  its  parish,  the  vineyard  might  be 
taken  from  it,  and  neighboring  churches  might  agree  to  care 
for  it  as  a  mission-field.  In  an  extreme  case,  if  a  church 
should  seem  actually  to  renounce  its  essential  duty  of 
preaching  to  the  poor,  the  neighbor  churches  aggrieved 
by  such  a  scandal  might  refuse  its  fellowship.  But  it 
would  not  be  possible,  and  probably  not  desirable,  to  use 
compulsion. 

5.  That  such  an  agreement  between  neighboring- 
churches  is  unsuited  to  the  genius  of  the  Congregational 
order. 

If  this  objection  is  valid — if  the  Congregational  polity 
can  indeed  plead  incompetency  to  the  systematic  care  of 
the  population  of  a  district  or  province,  the  confession  is 
a  weighty  argument  against  that  order  of  church  govern- 
ment. That  it  is  not  valid,  the  whole  history  of 
Congregationalism,  both  in  the  Apostolic  age,  and  in  the 
earlier  periods  of  New  England,  sufficiently  proves. 

The  exigencies  of  the   Home  Evangelization  work,  if 


60  CHURCH,  PARISH,  AND  BENEVOLENT  SOCIETY. 

they  do  not  find,  will  certainly  create,  an  arrangement  of 
District  and  State  "  Conferences."  And  this  is  one  of  the 
admirable  incidental  benefits  of  the  work  to  the  churches. 
Such  arrangements  for  mutual  coiiasel  and  correspondence 
as  grow  out  of  the  necessities  of  the  common  aggressive 
work  of  the  churches  are  the  best  possible  arrangements 
for  that  purpose.  Such  meetings  as  they  would  con^ 
template,  being  directed  to  a  specific  object,  and  that 
object  not  the  internal  administration  and  prosperity,  but 
the  outward  and  aggressive  action,  of  the  church,  would 
avoid  the  objections  commonly  alleged  against  "  standing 
councils."  Thej^  would  be  preferable  to  those  church- 
conferences  which  are  called  simply  for  the  purposes  of 
edification  and  devotion;  for  they  would  propose  as  their 
main  subject,  a  matter  of  the  greatest  moment  to  the 
church  and  to  the  people — one  which  appeals  most  deeply 
to  the  religious  afi'ections,  and  which  compels  the  sense  of 
human  inadequacy  and  dependence  on  God.  The  worship 
and  the  mutual  counsel  of  a  meeting  engaged  in  such  a 
work  would  be  full  of  the  mind  of  Christ.  They  would  be 
all  the  more  fervent  in  spirit,  as  they  were  not  slothful  in 
business. 

The  annual  report  of  a  State  conference  fully  and 
earnestly  engaged  in  the  work  of  Home  Evangelization, 
would  be  something  quite  unprecedented  in  value  to  all 
who  love  the  kingdom  of  Christ.  It  would  be  very 
different  from  the  brief  bit  of  rhetoric  annually  exhibited 
in  many  States  under  the  title  of  a  "  Narrative  of  the 
state  of  Religion"; — very  diff'erent,  also,  from  the 
elaborate  and  useful  statistics  published  by  various  bodies, 
from  year  to  year,  of  the  condition  of  "  our  denomination." 
It  would  contain  an  account  of  the  religious  condition  and 


CHURCH,  PARISH,  AND  BENEVOLENT  SOCIETY.  61 

wants  of  the  population  of  the  State.  It  would  exhibit 
the  resources  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ,  in  the  churches^ 
not  of  one,  but  of  all  denominations,  to  supply  these 
wants.  It  would  show  what  Avas  doing  in  each  parish  to 
reach  the  unevangelized,  first  by  the  parish  church,  then 
by  the  various  churches  of  other  denominations  operating 
within  the  parish.  It  would  describe  the  various  methods 
of  labor  used  by  the  different  churches,  and  the  com- 
parative success  that  had  attended  them.  And  each  year 
it  would  afford  a  complete  strategic  map  of  the  campaign 
for  the  year  to  come.  Such  a  report  as  this  would 
stimulate  and  sustain  the  efforts  of  each  church  in  its  own 
parish,  of  each  district-conference  in  its  own  district.  The 
cost  of  it,  thus  expended,  would  secure  more  of  eft'ective 
missionary  work,  than  vastly  larger  sums  spent  in  hiring 
missionaries,  or  in  any  other  way.  And  the  cost  of  it 
need  not  be  much.  The  reports  of  district  conferences, 
made  out  after  a  concerted  form,  and  uniformly  printed, 
if  stitched  together,  with  the  doings  of  the  General 
Conference,  would  make  the  general  report  which  would 
be. needed  by  pastors  and  others  who  desired  to  know  the 
work  in  its  general  relations,  but  could  be  used,  each 
district  report  by  itself,  for  ordinary  local  circulation. 

A  work  so  conducted  by  the  Congregational  churches 
of  any  New  England  State,  (except  lihode  Island,)  would 
more  elevate  and  assert  the  dignity  of  those  churches  than 
s,nj  other.  At  the  same  time,  it  would  be  clearly  relieved 
of  all  embarrassments  that  attend  compacts  and  alHances 
between  different  denominations.  Not  depending  on  the 
outward  consent  of  these,  it  would  go  forward  constantly 
with  their  unintended  co-operation. 

And  yet — and  therefore — this   work  would  be  more 


62  CHURCH,  PARISH,  AND  BENEVOLENT  SOCIETY. 

truly  and  largely  catholic  than  any  proposed  form  of 
stipulated  co-operation.  It  would  recognize  the  Christian 
labors  of  all  Christian  churches  in  their  due  relation  to 
the  one  work  of  Christ;  and  this,  ever,  without  recognizing 
the  popular  "  evangelical  "  principle  of  the  perpetuity  of 
schism  as  the  normal  condition  of  the  Church. 

III.  Home  Evangelization  in  its  relation  to 
Societies  external  to  the  organization  of  the 
churches.  ^ 

The  various  Societies  with  which  Home  Evangelization, 
in  a  New  England  State,  has  apparent  relations,  may  be 
classified  as  follows : 

1.  Home  Missionary  Societies,  e.  g.  The  American  Home 
Missionary  Society ;  The  Congregational  Union ;  The 
Sunday  School  Union. 

2.  Societies  for  the  evangelization  of  particular  classes  of 
People,  e.  g.  The  American  Christian  Union  ;  the  Society 
for  "  meliorating "  the  Jews  ;  the  Seamen's  Friend 
Society. 

3.  Societies  for  the  development  and  enforcement  of 
particular  ideas  hi  morals  and  religion,  e.  g.  Temperance, 
Anti-Tobacco,  Anti-Slavery,  Sabbath,  and  Systematic 
Beneficence  Societies. 

4.  Piihlishing  Societies,  e.  g.  Bible,  Tract,  and  Sunday 
School  Societies. 


1.  From  the  definition  of  the  subject  at  the  outset  of  this  article,  it  wiU  be 
seen  that  its  arguments  can  have  but  a  modified  application  to  those  States 
which  are  as  yet  incompletely  furnished  with  churches,  and  are  therefore  the 
field  rather  of  Home  Missions  than  of  Home  Evangelization.  The  remarks 
under  this  third  head  are  specially  applicable  to  those  New  England  States 
which  are  fairly  occupied,  through  their  whole  territory,  by  Congregational 
churches  willing  to  co-operate  for  the  entire  evangelization  of  the  people. 


CHURCH,  PARISH,  AND  BENEVOLENT  SOCIETY.  63 

5.  Pliilanthropic  Societies^  e.  g.  Children's  Aid,  Coloniza- 
tion, Female  Guardian,  City  Relief  Societies. 

1.  The  American  Home  Missionary  Society  does  not 
interfere  in  any  way  with  the  work  of  the  Gospel  in  the 
old  New  England  States.  It  leaves  the  work  to  be 
administered,  as  it  ought  to  be,  by  the  churches  or  pastors 
of  those  States  in  council,  and  stands  related  to  them  only 
as  the  recipient  of  their  surplus  revenue.     This  is  well. 

Neither  the  Congregational  Union  nor  the  Sunday 
School  Union  undertakes  to  accomplish  a  complete  Home 
Missionary  work,  and  yet  they  each  do  a  work  without 
which  that  of  the  Home  Missionary  Society  is  incomplete. 
And  each  of  these  two  Societies  does  some  of  its  work  in 
New  England.  The  work  of  the  American  Sunday  School 
Union  in  Connecticut,  for  a  few  years  past,  has  been  great 
and  excellent. 

But  if  it  is  well  that  the  Home  Mission  work  within 
these  States  should  be  directed,  not  by  a  National  Board 
in  New  York,  but  from  within  the  State  itself,  would  it 
not  be  likewise  well  if  the  Church-building  and  Sunday 
School  work  within  these  States  should  be  arranged  in 
like  relations  to  the  National  Work  ?  There  has  never 
been  any  clash  between  the  Sunday  School  and  Church- 
building  movements  in  New  England,  on  the  one  hand, 
and  the  Home  Mission  and  Home  Evangelization  work,  on 
the  other,  and  it  is  desirable  there  never  should  be  ;  and 
to  this  end  these  several  courses  of  evangelical  labor, 
which  are  so  palpably  parts  of  the  same  general  work^ 
should  be  included  in  some  comprehensive  plan,  and 
prosecuted  not  without  concert. 


64  CHURCH,  PARISH,  AND  BENEVOLENT  SOCIETY. 

2.  Societies  for  the  evangelization  of  particular  classes  of 
27eople. 

There  is  reasonable  ground  for  doubt  whether  Societies 
of  this  class  have  any  proper  relation  to  the  work   of  the 
gospel  in  a  Christian  State.     They  seem  to  be  founded  on 
a  misapplication  of  the  economical  principle  of  the  division 
of  labor.     Given  a  certain  province   to   be   evangelized, 
occupied  by  different  classes  and  professions  of  people,  it 
seems    to    be    imagined    that    the    highest    economical 
advantage  requires  that  one   Board  should  undertake  the 
conversion  of  one  class  of  people,  another  Board  of  another 
class,  and  so  on  until  the  whole   community  is  provided 
for.     If  this  policy  were  carried  out,  instead  of  a  union 
of  the  churches   of  any   State  for  carrying  forward   the 
work  of  the  gospel  in  their  several  parishes,  and  thus  in 
the  whole  State,  we   should  have   one  Board   and  set  of 
missionaries    for     converting    Romanists,     another     for 
"  meliorating"  Jews,  another  for  disenchanting  Spiritists  ; 
— one  mission  to  Irish,  one  to  Grermans,  one  to  negroes, 
one  to  Yankees,  one  to  sailors,  one  to  tailors,  and  one  to 
hatters.  The  fact  is — the  general  fact,  to  which,  doubtless, 
there  are  exceptions — that  the  proper  main  division  of  the 
work  of  the  gospel,  is  the  geographical  division  of  the 
field.     In  any  community,  among  all  its  classes,  the  work 
of  evangelization  is  essentially  one  work,  and  the  means 
to  be  used  are  the  game — the  gospel  and  the  church.     If 
there  are  large  and  peculiar  classes   of  population  in  the 
community  or  the  State,  they  may  well  be  made  subjects 
of   special  report  to    the    church,   or  to    the   council  of 
churches.     But   to   have    different    sets    and   systems    of 
national  missions  to  these  different  classes,  is  not  only  to 
commit  a  grievous  waste  of  resources,  but  to  intersect  and 


CHURCH,  PARISH,  AND  BENEVOLENT  SOCIETY.  65 

discompose  any  plans  of  systematic  Home  Evangelization 
which  maj^  have  been  entered  on  by  the  churches  of  any 
particular  province,  or  State. 

3.  Societies  Jor  the  enforcement  ami  i)ropagation  of 
particular  ideas  in  morals  and  religion. 

In  special  emergencies,  societies  of  this  class  have  been 
mightily  ejBFective  of  useful  reforms.  Of  this  a  reference  to 
the  list  of  them  gives  sufficient  evidence.  But  the  same 
reference  will  show  that  they  lack  powers  of  endurance. 
They  sometimes  run  for  a  while,  but  by  and  by  Satan 
hinders  them,  and  the  gates  of  hell  prevail  against  them. 
They  cannot  be  relied  on  for  a  long  fight  with  wickedness. 
When  the  emergency  is  past  for  which  they  were 
providentially  designed,  their  influence  becomes  small, 
their  field  of  operations  small,  their  legitimate  expenses 
small,  and  commonly  their  men  become  very  small 
indeed,  and  the  character  of  the  Society  itself  tends  to 
become  narrow,  querulous  and  vicious. 

The  duty  of  a  great  enterprise  like  that  of  Home 
Evangelization  towards  one-idea  Societies,  is  to  use  them 
when,  and  while,  they  are  useful,  and  to  avoid  entangling 
alliances. 

4.  Publishing  Societies. 

These  institutions  have  two  departments  of  labor, 
entirely  distinct  in  idea,  but  more  or  less  confounded  in 
practical  operation  ;  —  the  Manufacturing  and  Mercantile 
department,  and  the  Charitable  and  Missionary  depart- 
ment. Some  of  these  institutions,  as,  for  instance,  the 
Sunday  School  Union  and  the  Boston  American  Tract 
Society,  attempt  in  good  faith  to  keep  these  two  depart- 
ments quite  separate   in  administration  ;    but   with   very 


66  CHURCH,  PARISH,  AND  BENEVOLENT  SOCIETY. 

partial  success.  Nevertheless,  the  distinction  is  clear 
enough  for  us  to  follow  in  this  discussion. 

(1.)  The  relation  which  the  conductors  of  the  Home 
Evangelization  enterprise  bear  to  publishing  Societies 
considered  as  manufacturing  and  mercantile  corporations, 
is  simply  that  which  they  bear  to  other  parties  in  the 
same  line  of  business  ;  —  that  of  customers  for  such  goods 
as  we  want  to  buy,  and  as  they  can  sell  us  to  the  best 
advantage.  It  is  highly  important  to  churches  and 
missionary  societies  as  purchasers,  that  they  should  not 
be  exclusively  the  customers  of  any  one  or  two  parties. 
And  this,  not  only  for  economical  reasons,  but  because 
they  thus  shut  themselves  up  to  a  comparatively  narrow 
range  of  selection,  instead  of  entering  the  whole  market, 
and  the  whole  field  of  Christian  literature.  By  confining 
themselves  to  the  issues  of  "  Catholic  basis  "  societies,  in 
all  large  operations  by  means  of  books,  our  churches  have 
needlessly  shut  themselves  out  from  many  of  tJie  best  books 
for  popular  use — including  many  books  whose  only  fault 
is  that  they  are  not  silent  on  important  truths  assailed 
from  tvithin  the  Church. 

(2.)  In  their  capacity  as  missionary  institutions,  it  does 
not  appear  that  the  Publishing  Societies  can  advantage- 
ously aid  the  work  of  Home  Evangelization. 

The  missionary  operations  of  the  Bible  and  Tract 
Societies  are  included  under  two  heads  : 

a.  Making  grants  of  money  and  books  for  missionary 
purposes. 

h.  Employing  agents  to  sell  and  distribute  books,  and 
(incidentally  to  this  work)  to  preach  the  gospel. 

a.  Under  the  first  head,  the  relation  of  Home 
Evangelization  in  the  old  States   to  these   Societies  may 


CHURCH,  PARISH,  AND  BENEVOLENT  SOCIETY.  67 

be  defined  very  shortly  and  decisively.  Considering  that 
the  current  contributions  of  the  churches  of  those  States 
are  much  inore  than  enough  to  pay  for  all  that  they  want 
in  the  way  of  books,  it  is  neither  needful  nor  desirable 
that  they  should  be  beholden  to  these  Societies  for 
gratuities.  It  is  better  that  from  the  money  by  them 
contributed,  should  first  be  drawn  whatever  may  be 
wanted  for  home  us^,  and  expended  for  the  best  books 
wherever  they  can  be  got  cheapest,  by  no  means  refusing 
to  circulate  books  that  vindicate  truth  that  has  been 
assailed. 

As  to  the  question  whether  the  surplus  should  go  to  the 
publishing  societies  at  all,  that  is  a  question  on  which 
there  is  a  great  deal  to  be  said,  but  it  does  not  immediately 
pertain  to  the  subject  of  this  article. 

I).  Can  these  Societies  help  the  work  of  Home 
Evangelization  through   "  Colportage  "  operations  ? 

No  :     for  several  reasons. 

First,  A  manufacturing  and  trading  corporation  is 
constitutionally  unfitted  for  conducting  missionary  opera- 
tions Its  eye  is  not  single.  It  has  goods  to  sell,  as  well 
as  souls  to  save.  With  the  fairest  intentions  in  the 
world,  its  managers  cannot  help  seeing,  whenever  any- 
thing needs  to  be  done,  in  city  or  country,  in  army  or 
navy,  that  the  only  thing  to  do  it  with  is  a  bunch  of  their 
cheap  and  beautiful  publications.  The  wonders  which 
were  formerly  wrought  by  "  the  printed  page"  are  now 
promised  through  the  agency  of  "the  flexible  cover.'' 
Each  of  these  corporations  claims  to  be  the  "  old,  original 
Dr.  Jacob  Townsend,"  that  its  own  list  of  remedies  forms 
the  only  panacea,  and  that  all  othsrs  are  counterfeits.  Is 
a   company,  pre-committed  to  such  convictions  as  these. 


68  CHURCH,  PARISH,  AND  BENEVOLENT  SOCIETY. 

bound  to  them  by  its  constitution  and  antecedents  and  by 
grave  financial  and  commercial  interests,  the  best 
directory  of  a  system  of  Christian  missions  ? 

Secondly,  If  there  is  to  be  a  band  of  itinerant 
missionaries  employed  in  any  of  the  older  States;  they 
ought  to  be  directed  from  within  the  State,  and  by  the 
churches  and  pastors  of  the  State,  and  not  by  a 
"  National  "  committee  from  outside.  A  general  good- 
will and  fraternal  disposition  on  the  part  of  the  outsiders 
is  not  enough.  It  will  not  save  them  from  intersecting 
with  cross  purposes  any  plans  which  the  allied  churches 
of  the  State  may  attempt  to  pursue  for  Home  Evangeliza- 
tion. The  work  which  these  Societies  propose  to  do 
through  their  "  colporters,"  is  only  a  part  of  the  general 
work  of  the  gospel  which  belongs  to  the  churches.  It 
ought  to  be  included  in  any  comprehensive  system  of 
evangelization. 

Thirdly,  If  we  are  to  have  a  system  of  Lay-missionaries 
(and  a  great  deal  may  be  said  in  favor  of  such  a  system, 
for  certain  uses,)  it  is  better  to  have  missionaries  who 
shall  circulate  Bibles  and  tracts  incidentally  to  the  work 
of  preaching  the  gospel,  rather  than  hook-agents,  salaried 
by  the  churches,  who  shall  preach  the  gospel  incidentally 
to  the  work  of  peddling  books. 

Fou7ihly,  The  principles  of  economy  enunciated  above, 
in  speaking  of  "'Societies  for  the  evangelization  of 
particular  classes  of  people,"  apply  in  general  to  all 
Societies  which  propose  to  employ  sets  of  missionaries  to 
do  a  petty  or  fractional  work,  instead  of  doing  the  whole 
work  of  the  gospel.  What  gain  is  there,  in  the  case  of  a 
particular  town  or  county,  in  having  one  man  to  traverse 
the   whole  field   to   circulate   Bibles,   another  to   scatter 


CHURCH,  PARISH,  AND  BENEVOLENT  SOCIETY.  69 

tracts  and  books^  another  to  found  Sunday-Schools  and 
gather  the  children  into  them,  and  another  yet  to  preach 
the  gospel,  instead  of  letting  the  man  that  preaches  the 
gospel,  himself  do  these  other  things,  which  are  properly 
part  of  his  work  ? 

Fifthly y  The  missionary  labors  of  the  Book-concerns,  in 
fields  of  Home  Evangelization,  are  not  only  prosecuted  at 
an  economical  disadvantage — they  are  an  actual  hindrance 
to  thorough  and  earnest  parochial  labor  on  the  part  of  the 
churches.  Every  intelligent  and  diligent  pastor  or  lay- 
evangelist  reckons  the  judicious  distribution  of  good  books 
as  among  his  best  helps  in  the  work  of  the  gospel.  The 
interference  of  the  "  colporter,"  or  Bible  agent,  cripples 
him  in  this  arm  of  his  power.  Before,  he  might  have 
established  a  tie  of  gratitude  and  affection  between 
himself  or  the  Church,  and  some  neglected  family,  by  the 
gift  of  a  Bible  or  of  some  other  good  book.  And  the  good 
seed  thus  planted  he  might  have  watched  and  tended  and 
watered  from  time  to  time.  But  the  Bible  agent  comes, 
hurries  from  house  to  house,  drops  a  Bible  here  and  a 
Bible  there,  gathers  up  a  few  choice  cases  of  "  Alarming 
Destitution  "  for  the  Annual  Report,  and  goes  on  his  way 
rejoicing.  The  Directors  in  the  grand  room  in  Astor  Place 
read  his  letters  and  give  devout  thanks  (it  has  been 
decided  to  be  not  unconstitutional  for  them  to  give  thanks,) 
for  the  good  that  has  been  done.  They  never  hear  of  the 
good  that  has  been  hindered.^ 

1.  Our  attention  was  first  attracted  to  this  evil  during  a  visit  to  the  Syrian 
Mission  of  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreijyn  Missions.  Our 
missionaries  were  f?rievously  complaining-  of  the  mischief  wrouj^ht  by  the  well- 
intended  labors  of  an  ajjent  of  the  British  and  Foreij^n  Bible  Society.  For  the 
space  of  a  fjeneration  they  had  been  laboring  to  train  the  people  to  value  the 
Bible  ;  to  make  sacrifices  in  order  to  own  it ;  to  buy  it ;  to  treasure  it  and  kee  p 
it;   in  some  measure  they    were   succeeding,    when  the  British  and  Foreign 


70  CHURCH,  PARISH,  AND  BENEVOLENT  SOCIETY. 

The  conclusion,  then,  to  which  we  come,  is  that 
according  to  their  present  modes  of  working,  the  Bible 
and  Tract  Societies  can  render  no  other  service  to  the 
Home  Evangelization  work  than  that  which  is  rendered 
by  publishers  of  good  literature  generally.  There  may  be 
other  methods — we  believe  that  there  are — in  which  a 
Society  for  Promoting  the  Circulation  of  Grood  Books 
could  accomplish  greater  and  most  desirable  ends,  by 
means  liable  to  none  of  the  above  mentioned  objections.^ 

6.  Philwithrojnc  Societies. 

The  proper  relation  of  the  Home  Evangelization  work 
to  Societies  of  this  class  may  best  be  defined  by  the 
statement  of  certain  general  principles. 

(1.)  The  practice  of  works  of  mercy  is  declared  by 
divine  example  and  command  to  be  the  proper  accom- 
paniment and  adjuvant  of  the  preaching  of  the  gospel     It 

gentleman  an-ives  with  a  big  packing-ease  of  books,  which  he  gives  away  right 
and  left,  plenis  manibus,  and  writes  home  to  the  Bible  Society  in  London  of  his 
Glorious  Work.  For  some  months  thereafter  our  missionaries  were  gathering 
in  the  fruits  of  his  labors,  in  the  shape  of  liighly  scriptural  wrappers  to  successive 
bars  of  soap,  chops  of  mutton,  and  other  vendibles  from  the  hucksters  of  Beirflt. 

1.  The  subject,  but  not  the  limits,  of  this  article,  would  justify  us  in  discussing 
at  length  a  graver  charge  against  the  Bible  Society's  policy,  which  we  are  pre- 
pared to  substantiate  by  evidence,  but  which  we  kave  room  only  to  state. 

It  is  this,  tliat  the  Bible  Society,  by  sedulously  discouraging  the  trade  in 
Bibles,  has  driven  them  out  of  the  ordinary  market,  and  made  them  purchaseable 
only  through  its  own  stipendiaries,  or  those  of  its  auxiliaries.  In  attempting  the 
circulation  of  the  Scripturoe  by  sale,  it  defiantly  overrides  tlie  Laws  of  Trade 
which  are  as  much  God's  laws  as  the  law  of  gravitation  is,  and  affects  to 
substitute  for  them  its  inefficient  apparatus  of  Auxiliaries  and  agents. 

Whatever  be  the  cause,  tiic  effect  is  un(iuestionable.  The  llci)ort  of  the 
Connecticut  Home  Evangelization  Committee  for  1860,  made  up  from  actual 
canvass  of  the  State,  reports  that  in  the  country  towns,  generally,  there  are  no 
Bibles  kppt  for  sale.  Is  this  true  of  any  other  article  of  general  houseliold  use 
and  demand  V  Would  it  be  true  of  the  Bible,  if  the  circulation  of  it  by  sale  wore 
entrusted  to  free  trade  and  not  to  a  monopoly  ?  And  cian  the  Bible  Society  do  a 
better  service  for  the  circulation  of  the  Word  of  God,  tlian  to  "stand  out  of  its 
sunshine"  and  let  it  "  have/ree  course  and  be  glorified  y  " 


CHURCH,  PARISH,  AND  BENEVOLENT  SOCIETY.  71 

is  a  proof  of  the  presence  of  the  Christ,  that  "  the  deaf 
hear,  the  lepers  are  cleansed,  the  lame  walk,  the  poor 
have  the  gospel  preached  unto  them."  And  these  good 
works  ought  to  be  performed,  not  simply  for  their 
relation  to  the  success  of  preaching,  but  for  the  love  of 
them,  and  as  accomplishing  in  themselves  an  ultimate, 
though  inferior,  good.  When  we  do  good  to  men's 
bodies,  simply  for  the  sake  of  reaching  their  souls,  we  are 
apt  to  be  found  out  in  our  device,  and  thus  to  lose  the 
very  thing  we  are  aiming  at. 

(2.)  All  public  arrangements  for  doing  good  to  the 
community,  inasmuch  as  they  spring  from  the  prevalence 
of  the  gospel,  ought  to  be  outwardly,  as  they  are  in  fact, 
associated  with  the  gospel,  that  Christ  may  have  the 
glory. 

(3.)  A  plan  of  evangelization,  whether  for  a  parish  or 
a  State,  ought  to  comprehend,  as  far  as  may  be,  arrange- 
ments for  promoting  the  bodily  welfare  of  the  people. 
And  it  is  desirable  that  the  Church  and  the  minister  of 
the  gospel  should  undertake  as  much  as  possible  of  this 
work,  leaving  as  little  as  possible  for  the  civil  authorities 
and  for  merely  secular  associations. 

(4.)  But  there  are  certain  methods  of  doing  good  which 
require  larger  organizations  than  churches  to  conduct 
them,  and  different  organizations.  Such,  for  example,  are 
the  establishment  of  Hospitals  and  Orphan  Asylums,  and 
the  conducting  of  systems  of  emigration,  as  in  the  case  of 
the  Children's  Aid  and  Colonization  Societies.  As  far  as 
possible  the  churches  should  be  imtrons  rather  than 
beneficiaries  of  such  institutions  ;  encouraging  them  by 
making  use  of  their  accommodations  at  a  fair  price  for 
what  they  receive,  and  assisting  them   otherwise,   as  by 


7  2  CHURCH,  PARISH,  AND  BENEVOLENT  SOCIETY. 

contribution.  It  would  be  well  if  churches  and 
Evangelization  Unions  should  own  the  right  of  J)resentation 
to  Hospitals  and  Orphan  Asylums,  and  if  benevolent  men 
wishing  to  render  service  to  such  institutions,  should  do 
it  by  purchasing  for  the  Church  the  privilege  of  sending 
the  poor  to  them.  But  the  work  from  house  to  house — the 
friendly  and  Christian  work  connected  with  these 
institutions — ought  to  be  performed,  as  far  as  possible,  by 
the  Church  and  Evangelist,  in  the  name  of  Christ,  so  as  to 
leave  as  little  as  possible  to  be  done  by  the  philanthropic 
society,  in  the  name  of  humanity. 

We  rest  the  discussion  here,  having  traversed  the 
subject,  not  exhausted  it.  If  we  seem  in  anything  to  have 
spoken  curtly  and  dogmatically,  it  is  because  the  limits 
of  space  forbade  circumlocution  and  apology,  and  our 
conviction  of  the  truth  and  importance  of  many  of  the 
thoughts  above  set  forth,  demanded  at  least  the  attempt 
to  express  them.  If  we  have  seemed  radical^  will  not  our 
readers  at  least  ask,  before  condemning,  whether  the 
blame  of  it  ought  not  to  be  laid  on  radical  errors  in 
existing  usages  and  institutions  ? 


►>5&ioo<^es^- 


CONFESSIONS  OF  A  HIGH-CHURCHMAN.  73 


lY. 


CONFESSIONS    OF    A   HIGH-CHURCHMAN* 


Bryan  Maurice,  or  The  Seeker.     By  Eev.  Walter 
Mitchell.  Philadelphia:    Lippincott.   12mo. 

This  is  a  volume  of  Episcopalian  polemics  under  the 
form  of  a  novel.  It  makes  "the  epic  plunge"  at  once  in 
mediae  res,  with  a  discussion  on  the  Pentateuch,  and 
winds  up  with  a  wedding,  and  red  fire,  and  "  the  solemn 
cares  of  a  Missionary  Bishopric,"  with  a  handsome  Grothic 
church  and  parsonage  for  the  back  scene.  The  story  is 
entirely  subordinate  to  the  theological  intent  of  the 
author,  and  serves  mainly  as  a  setting  for  his  brilliants  of 
controversial  divinity;  so  that  the  book  takes  place  in 
literature  with  a  class  of  school-books  once  in  vogue, 
such  as  "  Conversations  on  Chemistry  between  a  Mother 
and  three  Daughters,"  or  "Uncle  Peter's  Talks  upon 
English  Grammar  with  his  Little  Friends,"  in  which  it 
was  conceived  that  the  driest  studies  might  be  capable  of 
a  certain  dramatic  fascination;  or  rather  with  that  large 

*  From  the  New  Englander  for  October,  1867. 


74  CONFEvSSIONS  OF  A  HIGH-CHURCHMAN. 

and  still  growing  class  of  popular  discussions,  the  latest 
representative  of  which  we  see  advertised  under  the  title 
"  Dialogues  on  Ritualism  between  a  Layman  and  his 
Rector,"  and  the  advantage  of  which  is  that  therein  the 
ill-favored  opponent  of  the  writer's  pet  doctrines  can  be 
made,  in  spite  of  himself,  to  defend  sentiments  which  he 
Avould  abhor,  with  weak  arguments  which  he  would 
despise,  and  then  be  overwhelmed  with  sudden  and  quick- 
witted rejoinders  which  the  author  had  dreamed  of  for  a 
week,  wishing  that  some  one  would  only  say  such  foolish 
things,  that  he  might  seize  his  chance  to  make  such  bright 
replies.  This  sort  of  controversy  is  conceived  to  have 
many  of  the  advantages  of  actual  tug-of-war,  with  none 
of  its  perils.  The  intellectual  satisfaction  of  it  to  the 
writer,  if  not  quite  like 

"the  joy  which  warriors  feel 
In  foemeii  worthy  of  their  steel," 

may  at  least  be  likened  to  the  martial  glory  of  a  sham- 
iight  at  a  militia  training;  or  to  the  excitement  of  the 
€ombat  in  a  Punch-and-Judy  show,  when  the  left-hand 
puppet  is  so  horribly  banged  with  that  frightful  club  by 
the  right-hand  puppet,  or  to  the  fierce  joys  of  the  gaming- 
table^ as  realized  by  the  Marchioness  in  "  The  Old 
Curiosity  Shop,"  when  she  played  at  cribbage  over  her 
orange-peel-and-water  in  the  solitude  of  Sampson  Brass's 
back-kitchen,  and  kept  tally  for  the  right  hand  against 
the  left. 

Of  course,  then,  it  would  not  be  fair  to  criticise  "  Bryan 
Maurice  "  as  a  novel.  Not  but  that  there  are  points  of 
interest  about  it  in  this  aspect.  We  regard  the  adventure 
which  is  the  hinge  of  the  story  as  one  of  the  boldest 
strokes  of  the  pen  in  recent  fiction.     The   two  lovers  go 


CONFESSIONS  OF  A  HIGH-CHURCHMAN.  75 

down  on  the  same  plank  in  the  wreck  of  the  Arctic, 
paddle  off  in  different  directions  under  water,  and  come 
up,  one  in  N'antucket  and  one  in  Halifax,  never  to  hear  of 
each  other  again  until  they  are  both  whistled  up  by  the 
call-boy  in  time  for  the  wedding-scene  in  the  last  act. 
There  is  nothing  quite  equal  to  this,  we  think,  either  in 
Scott  or  in  Bulwer. 

And  yet  it  would  be  equally  unreasonable  to  criticise 
the  book  as  an  argument.  There  is  a  serious,  though 
unsuccessful,  purpose  of  argument  in  it;  a  number  of  the 
old  stock  defenses  of  the  high-church  faction  in  the 
Episcopal  Church  are  neatly  stated,  and  several  fair  hits, 
together  with  some  foul  ones,  are  made  at  his  antagonists  ; 
but,  as  a  general  thing,  the  writer  "  fights  as  one  that 
beateth  the  air,"  when  he  strikes  out  against  the  com- 
munion of  Christian  believers  outside  of  his  sect,  in 
consequence  of  his  ignorance  of  their  relative  position  and 
views. 

But  "Bryan  Maurice"  has,  nevertheless,  a  certain 
ponderable  and  mensurable  value,  of  a  sort  which  its 
author,  perhaps,  did  not  think  of  in  the  first  rapture  of 
publication.  It  is  worth  something  as  Confessions.  For 
the  book  is,  plainly  enough,  autobiographical.  The  scenes 
of  it,  described  with  pre-Raphaelite  minuteness,  when  not 
openly  named,  are  recognized,  and  meant  to  be  recognized, 
as  the  places  of  the  writer's  residence  ;  and  at  Boston  and 
Cambridge,  at  Norowam,  which  is  Stamford,  and  at  the 
Cranmer  Divinity  School,  Broadwater,  which  is  the 
Berkeley  Divinity  School,  Middletown,  Connecticut,  the 
writer  takes  the  portraits  of  various  acquaintances  in 
public  and  in  private  stations,  which  he  designates  by  the 
most  transparent  pseudonyms,   and   hangs   out   along  his 


76  CONFESSIONS  OF  A  HIGH-CHURCHMAN. 

pages  for  the  public  entertainment,  His  style  of  art  isf 
literal  rather  than  imaginative,  and  his  pictures  oftea 
depend  for  recognition  rather  on  strongly  marked 
peculiarities  in  the  cut  of  the  whiskers  or  the  curl  of  the 
hair,  or  on  the  names  or  official  titles  written  up  under 
them,  than  on  any  lively  delineation  of  character.  But  the 
most  marked  trait  of  his  style  is  the  constancy  with  which 
his  portraits  are  flattered  up  towards  his  highest  ideal  of 
manly  and  womanly  beauty  just  in  proportion  as  the 
sitter  coincides  with  him  in  his  theological  position.  For 
this,  as  well  as  for  some  other  reasons,  we  are  inclined  to 
class  his  efforts  at  character-painting  among  his  acquaint- 
ances in  successive  dwelling-places,  with  the  works,  not  so 
much  of  the  painters,  and  sculptors,  as  of  those  humbler 
"  artists,"  whose  studios  trundle  upon  wheels  from 
village  to  village  as  the  exigencies  of  business  demand. 
Good  likenesses  are  promised,  and  satisfaction  guaranteed, 
only  to  those  who  come  within  the  narrow  range  and  focus 
of  his  camera.  If  none  but  Episcopalians  of  the  right  grade 
are  portrayed  to  the  last  hair  with  a  noble  distinctness,, 
— if  Congregationalists  are  blurred  into  phantoms,  and 
Unitarians  distorted  into  monsters,  is  it  Ids  fault,  quotha,, 
that  they  would  stay  in  their  absurd  positions,  instead 
of  coming  up  upon  his  platform  and  inserting  their  heads, 
between  the  prongs  of  his  standard  of  orthodoxy  ? 

It  is  an  incidental  disadvantage  of  the  author's  free- 
and-easy  method  of  dealing  with  the  persons  of  his  various 
acquaintances,  that  it  necessarily  brings  his  own 
personality  strongly  into  view.  If  a  late  student  at 
Cambridge  College  and  Middletown  Theological  School ^ 
and  convert  from  Unitarianism  to  the  Episcopal  Churchy 
leads  his  hero  in  the  character   of  a  Unitarian  ''  seeker  '' 


COXFESSIONS  OF  A  HIGH-CHURCHMAN.  77 

of  the  Episcopalian  ministry,  through  his  own  old  haunts 
and  experiences,  with  free  comments  on  his  old  instructors 
and  neighbors  from  the  author's  point  of  view,  it  is  all 
very  well  to  call  him  "  Bryan  Maurice,"  or  Childe 
Harold,  if  he  choose,  but  it  will  be  impossible  thereby  to 
avert  the  universal  inference  that  the  book  is  an  Ai^ologia 
l)ro  Vita  Sua,  and  that  the  paragon  with  the  romantic 
name  and  history  is  a  more  or  less  idealized  "  portrait  of 
the  author." 

It  is  this  consideration  to  which  Mr.  Mitchell  owes  his 
title  to  the  honor  of  a  special  Article  in  the  Neiv  Englander. 
We  would  not  unduly  disparage  the  value  of  his  opinions 
and  arguments.  But  his  testlmomj  concerning  himself, 
the  representative  of  a  class,  especially  when  it  is  given 
unconsciously,  and  most  of  all  when  it  inclines  against 
the  witness  and  his  sect  or  set,  is  of  more  importance  still. 
Let  us  glance,  then,  at  the  story  of  Bryan  Maurice. 

He  is  introduced  as  a  recent  graduate  of  Harvard 
College,  a  Unitarian,  twenty-three  years  old,  making  the 
grand  tour.  On  the  way  to  Rome  he  falls  in  with 
Gardiner,  an  Episcopalian  minister  of  magnificent  personal 
appearance,  wdth  "  white  and  very  handsome  hands,"  and 
"  high  and  ample  forehead,"  and  to  him  he  opens  some  of 
his  sceptical  difficulties.  At  E-ome,  he  is  present  at  the 
death-bed  of  a  college  classmate,  when  Gardiner  admi- 
nisters the  Lord's  Supper.  Maurice  looks  on,  never 
before  having  seen  this  ordinance,  as  much  interested  as 
an  intelligent  Pagan  might  have  been  in  the  absolute 
novelty  of  it.  He  discovers,  to  his  amazement,  the 
indications  of  there  having  been  an  ancient  Christian 
church  in  Rome,  and  is  becoming  interested  in 
Gardiner's   explanations  of  the   facts  in   a    "  Protestant 


78  CONFESSIONS  OF  A  HIGH  CHURCHMAN. 

Episcopalian"  sense,  when  he  is  drawn  insidiously  into 
an  ambuscade,  through  a  mysterious  letter,  by  that 
dreadful,  though  somewhat  familiar  character,  the  "Jesuit 
in  disguise."  Snatched  by  Gardiner  from  this  Scylla,  he 
steers  easily  clear  of  the  Charybdis  of  the  American 
chapel,  where  he  finds  incompatible  contradictions  in  the 
preaching,  on  successive  Sundays,  of  Christian  ministers 
of  different  denominations.  Just  at  this  juncture  he  meets, 
under  interesting  circumstances,  with  an  altogether 
bewitching  little  Quakeress  turned  Episcopalian,  from 
Philadelphia,  who  goes  through  and  through  his  affections 
by  the  insidious  but  irresistible  process  of  asking  his  advice 
and  guidance,  at  their  first  meeting,  on  a  question  of  duty 
concerning  her  baptism.  He  goes  to  church  with  her  at 
the  English  chapel,  where  he  is  deeply  impressed  (of  all 
things  in  the  world  ! )  with  the  solemnity  of  the  Com- 
mination  Service !  and  Avhen,  after  church,  in  answer  to  his 
declaration,  "but  I  am  not  an  Episcopalian,"  she  looks 
up  with  her  lovely  eyes,  and  says,  "  You  will  be ;  nothing 
else  will  satisfy  you;  something  tells  me  that  you  will" 
— the  reader  with  half  an  eye,  discerns  that  it  is  all  up 
with  poor  Maurice,  and  that  "  fate  and  metaphysical  aid" 
will  do  the  business  for  him  by  the  time  he  gets  to  the 
last  chapter.  On  the  homeward  trip,  he  has  the  charming 
creature  for  a  fellow-passenger  aboard  the  "  Mystic  " 
(Arctic),  and  when  the  unhappy  steamer  is  about  going 
down  after  a  collision,  she  has  a  fresh  presentiment,  and 
assures  him  that  "  something  tells  her''  that  he  will  come 
out  right  after  all. 

When  the  hero  finds  himself  ashore,  safe  and  thankful, 
he  goes  with  earnest  and  serious  purposes  to  Cambridge 
Divinity  School,  to  prepare  for  the  Unitarian  ministry. 


CONFESSIONS  OF  A  HIGH-CHURCHMAN.  79 

He  finds  the  institution  swamped  with  scepticism  and 
utter  infidelity;  and  all  his  classmates  (excepting  one^ 
who  ultimately  turns  Episcopalian)  are  men  without  faith, 
earnestness,  or  common  honesty,  and  some  of  them  with- 
out decent  morality.  Nevertheless,  his  hopes  of  a  Church 
of  the  Future,  and  the  wily  managing  of  politic  old  foxes 
of  the  Unitarian  clergy,  keep  him  fur  the  present,  and  he 
goes  to  ISTorowam,  filled  with  nameless  longings  for  valid 
ordination,  and  yet  resolved  to  take  charge  of  the 
Universalist  Church  in  that  village.  Here  he  becomes 
a  fellow  boarder  at  the  hotel  with  the  young  Episcopalian 
minister.  Rev.  Alfred  Winthrop,  and  the  Rev.  Augustine 
Ralston,  pastor  of  the  Congregational  Church.  The 
former  was 

"  Evidently  young,  quite  young.  His  hair,  quite  long  and  with 
something  of  a  wave,  Avas  very  fi  le  and  silken  and  brushed  back 
from  his  brow.  It  fell  round  the  smooth  oval  of  a  face  whose 
perfect  features,  in  their  almost  womanish  perfection,  had  a 
marked  likeness  to  that  beautiful  ideal  which  the  Italian  painters 
have  chosen  for  St.  John  the  Divine."  He  sung  church-music 
"  with  a  voice  evidently  of  high  culture  and  great  natural 
sweetness." 

The  representative  Congregationalist,  however  unable 
to  stand  in  comparison  with  this  Adonis,  is  nevertheless 
remarkable  among  Mr.  Maurice's  non-Episcopalian 
acquaintances  for  possessing  some  redeeming  qualities. 
He  was  "  a  keen,  wary,  yet  genial  man,  very  fond  of  art, 
with  an  uncultivated  indiscriminate  fondness," — "  well, 
but  diffusely  read,  extraordinarily  independent  in  his 
views,  and  loving  to  air  them  in  controversy  ;" — 3^et  "not 
quarrelsome,  far  from  it; — gentlemanly,  kindly,  and 
thoroughly    even-tempered."     Per  contra,  he   had   those 


80  CONFESSIONS  OF  A  HIGH-CHURCHMAN. 

dark,  insidious  traits,  that  insincerity  of  opinion,  and  that 
feline  craftiness  with  a  selfish  view  to  personal  or  sectarian 
aggrandizement,  which  seem  to  Mr.  Mitchell's  generous 
observation  to  be  the  characteristic  traits  of  the  ministers 
of  Christ  in  Congregational  churches.  He  had  "  grown  up 
in  a  school  which  regards  all  opinions  rather  as  the  foils 
with  which  you  show  your  skill  in  fence,  than  as  the 
sword  with  which  one  fights  for  life  and  death."  "He  was 
an  honest  and  Christian  man  in  his  waj^,  but  had  been 
educated  into  a  morality  in  religious  politics  not  unworthy 
of  Liguori.  It  is  the  result  of  that  utter  absorption  of 
religion  into  a  pure  technicality  and  formalism,  which  is 
the  proper  sequence  of  an  attempt  at  a  bodiless 
spirituality.  This  is  the  cardinal  mischief  of  New  England 
Puritanism." 

Under  the  winning  influence  of  the  saintly  example  of 
Winthrop,  who  is  a  model  of  religious  devotedness  to  his 
work,  and  under  the  influence  of  a  large  number  of 
fascinating  and  delightful  girls,  who  are  represented  as 
holding  the  key  to  good  society  fn  Norowam,  and  as 
using  it  with  a  single  view  to  the  interests  of  the 
Episcopal  denomination,  and  who  have  a  singular  habit 
of  "  reading  his  very  soul"  by  moonlight,  and  saying  to 
him  in  portentous  tones,  ^^  Sometlwig  tells  ^)ie,  Mr.  Maurice, 
that  you  will  j^ot  kneel  at  that  altar" — it  is  no  wonder 
that  the  young  man  at  last  succumbs  to  the  force  of 
circumstances.  Gardiner  comes  in  opportunely  at  the  last 
of  these  oracular  utterances,  clinches  his  resolutions  with 
a  few  common-place  arguments,  a  hundred  times  refuted, 
and  the  upshot  of  the  story  is  that  Maurice  is  off"  for 
Broadwater  in  a  twinkling,  to  get  his  theology  rectified 
and  his  ordination  "  validated."  Once  more  he  has  a  turn 


CONFESSIONS  OF  A  HIGH-CHURCHMAN.  81 

of  hesitation,  but  at  the  opportune  moment  another  lovely 
woman  appears  upon  the  scene,  exclaiming,  "  0, 
Mr.  Maurice,  do  !  1  am  sure  you  ought.  I  know  you  will 
never  feel  contented  till  you  do;" — this  last  argument 
settles  him,  and  "  he  takes  the  morning  train  for  Broad- 
water." The  pretty  Quakeress  miraculously  reappears  to 
him,  at  the  chancel  of  a  love  of  a  stone  church  in 
Philadelphia,  all  stone,  outside  and  in,  and  they  are 
married  and  live  in  a  love  of  a  parsonage  built  for  Maurice 
by  one  of  those  very  Norowam  girls  who  used  to  assure 
him  that  "  something  told  them  "  he  would  preach  in  a 
gown  and  bands  before  he  died.  And  as  for  the  only 
decent  man  among  his  Cambridge  theological  classmates, 
he  comes  out  at  the  same  result  by  way  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  church,  and  goes  slsp  into  a  first-class  city 
parish,  with  a  first-rate  chance  for  "  the  solemn  cares — 
the  dread  responsibilities  of  a  Missionary  Bishopric.'' 
With  which  climax  the  book  concludes. 

We  need  not  speak  particularly  of  the  subordinate 
-characters  ;  they  may  be  briefly  described  as  follows  : — 

Sundry  Episcopalian  ministers,  all  of  the  very  finest 
personal  appearance,  sweet  voices,  superior  intellectual 
and  spiritual  qualities,  and  costumes  regardless  of 
expense. 

Several  Episcopalian  laymen,  also  of  noble  appearance 
and  superior  virtue. 

Chorus  of  Episcopalian  young  ladies,  all  of  remarkable 
personal  beauty,  the  very  highest  fashion,  and  the  sweetest 
piety,  devoted  to  good  works,  Easter  lilies,  and  altar- 
cloths,  and  young  non-Episcopalian  ministers  in  an 
interesting  state  of  mind. 

Certain  ministers  of  other  denominations,  all  of  them 


82  CONFESSIONS  OF  A  HIGH-CHURCHMAN. 

self-seekers,  without  religious  sincerity  or  earnestness,  or 
any  personal  beauty,  or  voices,  or  fine  clothes,  worth 
mentioning. 

A  number  of  young  ladies,  not  Episcopalians,  commonly 
not  of  good  social  position  nor  good  looks,  and  with 
serious  blemishes  of  character. 

'^  Citizens  generally,"  male  and  female,  outside  of  the 
Episcopal  church,  mostly  illiterate,  and  of  the  grade  of 
"  trades-people." 

Jesuits  (in  disguise). 

To  come  to  the  main  points  of  instruction  in  Mr.  Mitch- 
ell's express  or  implied  confessions,  we  note : 

I.  How  ignorant  a  Boston-bred  and  Harvard-graduated 
man  may  be  probably  supposed  to  be,  of  everything 
outside  of  the  Unitarian  sect  in  Massachusetts. 

Mr.  Mitchell,  who  is  an  accepted  contributor  to  the 
Atlantic,  and  by  no  means  to  be  reckoned  an  uncultivated 
man,  represents  his  double,  an  accomplished  young 
gentleman,  with  a  taste  for  biblical  study,  at  the  mature 
age  of  twenty-three,  finishing  his  education  by  foreign 
travel.  In  the  midst  of  Italy  he  does  not  know  a  word 
of  Italian — a  point  which  is  confirmed  by  the  fact  that 
the  book  rarely  ventures  a  quotation  in  a  foreign  tongue 
without  coming  to  grief  with  it.  He  is  absolutely  ignorant 
of  English  politics  and  theology,  and  when  "  the  talk  is  of 
Newman,  and  Gladstone,  and  Mr.  Ward,  and  the  Bishop 
of  Exeter,  and  the  Gorham  case,"  it  is  "pure  Sanscrit  to 
the  young  New  Englander."  He  has  never  seen  the 
administration  of  the  Lord's  Supper;  submits  without  a 
murmur  to  be  referred  to  the  "  original  Latin "  of  the 
New  Testament ;  discovers,  after  protracted  studv,  that 


CONFESSIONS  OF  A  HIGH-CHURCHMAN.  83 

the  New  Testament  consists  of  books  of  different  dates. 


and  after  a  long  period  of  exegetical  research  at 
Cambridge,  comes,  much  to  his  surprise,  upon  the  recondite 
fact  that  our  Lord's  ascension  did  not  occur  immediately 
upon  his  resurrection,  but  forty  days  afterwards.  He  hears 
the  Magnificat  chanted,  and  on  inquiring  the  source  of  so 
fine  a  lyric,  he  is  quite  amazed  and  incredulous  at  being 
told  that  it  is  in  the  gospel  according  to  Luke.  He  is 
driven  to  his  wits'  end  in  conversation,  in  consequence  of 
not  knowing  the  meaning  of  the  word  "  catholic."  No 
wonder,  then,  that  knowing  so  little  about  what  concerns 
his  own  religion,  he  should  suffer  even  to  the  end  from 
the  most  amazing  ignorance  about  other  people's.  Having 
attended  high  mass  at  St.  Peter's  on  Christmas  day,  he 
thinks  "  the  elevation  of  the  Host  was  very  fine,  but  what 
meaning  is  there  in  it  all  ?  What  is- the  Host?  I'm  sure 
I  don't  know."  He  doesn't  know  what  is  the  ecclesiastical 
meaning  of  ''  confirmation."  He  is  told,  as  a  piece  of  rare 
and  exquisite  erudition,  that  the  Athanasian  creed  is  not 
the  authentic  work  of  AthanaSius.  Of  course  he  and  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Mitchell  both  believe  the  raw-head-and-bloody- 
bones  representation  of  Calvinism,  and  suppose  that 
Christian  congregations  are  taught  by  Evangelical 
preachers,  that  Christ  did  not  die  for  infants  or  the  non- 
elect,  and  that  one  "  will  be  converted,  if  he  is  to  be, 
when  his  time  comes,  and  won't  be  before  that  for  all  his 
trying ;  and  that  until  that,  he  can't  make  things  worse 
or  better." 

Is  it  possible — Mr.  Mitchell  assures  us  that  it  is,  and 
he  ought  to  know — that  Unitarian  young  gentlemen,  of 
the  first  families  in  Massachusetts,  are  tumbled  out  from 
the  nest  of  their  Dura  Mater  at  Cambridge,  in  such  a 


84  CONFESSIONS  OF  A  HIGH-CHURCHMAN. 

painfully  callow  and  unfledged  condition  ?  Are  they  really 
undefended,  except  as  they  carry  about  upon  their  heads 
the  broken  egg-shell  of  early  prejudice  against  orthodoxy 
as  something  vulgar,  from  the  attacks  of  the  first  "  Jesuit 
in  disguise,"  who  quotes  at  them  the  New  Testament  from 
"  the  original  Latin,"  or  the  first  Episcopalian  who 
"  startles"  them  with  his  notions  of  English  church 
histor}^  ?  And  are  they  wont  to  be  dumb-foundered,  in 
foreign  society,  at  the  commonest  words  and  allusions  in 
English  literature  and  politics?  Can  it  be  that  local 
antipathy  to  the  unabridged  and  illustrated  edition  of 
Webster's  Dictionary  has  led  to  such  results  ?  These  are 
questions  for  Mr.  Mitchell  to  settle  with  his  old  instructors 
and  college  friends;  and  we  acknowledge  that,  between 
the  two  parties,  there  is  a  very  considerable  presumption 
in  favor  of  the  college.  But  if  we  are  driven  to  accept 
his  representations  as  against  himself,  it  does  much  to 
clear  up  the  story  of  Bryan  Maurice's  conversion  to  high 
churchism,  and  sheds  light  upon  the  second  point  of  his 
confessions,  to  wit : 

II.  Into  what  narrowness  of  feeling  it  is  possible  for  a 
somewhat  intelligent  and  Christian  gentleman  to  be 
trained,  in  the  High-Church  faction  of  the  Episcopal 
denomination. 

The  real  argument  of  "  Bryan  Maurice,"  and  we  do  not' 
doubt  the  sincerity  with  which  it  is  ofi'ered,  is,  that  holiness 
of  life,  intelligent  faith,  pastoral  fidelity  and  self-denial, 
devout  and  imposing  worship,  gentlemanly  culture  and 
female  loveliness,  are  found  in  the  Episcopal  Church,  and 
therefore  stand  in  some  relation  of  necessary  sequence  with 
Apostolical  succession.  The  critical  point  of  Maurice's 
conversion  is,  when,  being  called  to  the  remorseful  bedside 


CONFESSIONS  OF  A  HIGH-CHURCHMAN.  85 

of  a  bad  man,  he  finds  that  his  Unitarianism  gives  him 
nothing  to  say  which  can  relieve  the  conscience  and  save 
the  sinner.  His  Episcopalian  friend  is  called  in,  and 
delivers  to  the  wretched  man  the  gospel — with  a  stift' 
churchiness  ol  manner,  but  the  same  good  news,  neverthe- 
less, of  an  almighty  Saviour,  which  comforts  the  souls  of 
true  believers  in  every  land  and  age, — and  on  the  Saviour 
thus  set  forth  the  sick  man  trusts,  to  the  saving  of  his 
soul.  Maurice  is  touched  and  impressed,  as  well  he  may 
be  ;  and  at  once,  with  an  induction  worthy  of  Mrs.  Mck- 
leby's  best  moods,  he  infers  that  it  "  must  be  something 
in  the  leather,'* — that  it  w^as  the  "  authority"  of  a  "valid 
ordination"  with  which  the  thing  was  done,  which  made 
the  main  difference  between  himself  and  his  neighbor. 
And  at  this  da}',  preaching  the  gospel  with  great  sincerity 
and  fidelit}^,  and  with  good  success,  we  have  no  doubt  that 
he  really  believes  in  his  heart  that  he  owes  that  success 
to  the  "  authority  "  of  his  "  valid  ordination,"  and  that 
he  is  honoring  the  divinely  appointed  means  of  the 
world's  salvation,  when  he  trains  himself,  and  tries  to 
train  others,  into  the  belief  that  that  vast  body  of  prayer- 
ful and  self-denying  ministers  of  Jesus  Christ,  which  lies 
outside  of  his  pin-fold,  are  mere  talkers  of  unfruitful  talk, 
mere  "  technicalists  and  formalists,"  and  that  the  true 
followers  of  the  Saviour  are  pretty  much  all  Protestant 
Episcopalians. 

It  requires  an  effort  to  adjust  the  vision  of  ordinary 
readers  to  a  focus  at  which  they  can  fairly  see  the 
microscopic  narrowness  of  mind  and  feeling  implied  in  the 
Mitchell-Maurice  position.  Stating  it,  we  fear  lest  we 
shall  seem  to  be  caricaturing  it,  or  lest  it  shall  be  inferred 


86  CONFESSIONS  OF  A  HIGH-CaURCHMAN. 

to  be  not  the  actual  position  of  the  author's  mind,  but  the 
position  of  attack  upon  others  into  which  he  rushes,  for  a 
moment;  in  the  heat  of  controversy.  But  simply  and 
soberly,  it  is  this  :  that  the  usage  of  worship  and  the 
church  organization  of  a  portion  of  the  population  of  the 
southern  part  of  one  of  the  islands  off  the  coast  of  Western 
Europe,  has  a  divine  and  exclusive  claim  to  be  accepted 
and  followed  by  the  entire  population  of  America !  The 
Act  of  Parliament,  commonl}'  known  as  the  "  Book  of 
Common  Prayer,"'  is  a  divine  "  pattern  given  in  the 
mount,"  and  so  far  as  any  act  of  worship  deviates  from 
this,  it  loses  in  beauty,  and  majesty,  and  spirituality. 
The  rites  of  the  Koman  Church  he  finds  to  be  "  tedious  " 
and  "  ludicrous;"  and  in  the  simplicity  of  outward  form 
with  which  the  overwhelming  majority  of  his  fellow- 
Christians  in  America  earnestl)^  worship  God,  he  can  see 
nothing  but  absurdities  on  which  he  may  practice  his 
cleverish  little  sarcasms.  Even  the  ritual  variations  and 
"  beautiful  garments  "  with  which  some  of  his  brethren 
pardonably  seek  to  diversify  the  endless  repetition  of  their 
"  Dearly-beloved-brethren,"  are  repudiated  by  him,  and 
nothing  is  trul)^  impressive  but  a  pied  gown,  black  and 
white,  and  the  Dearly-beloved-brethren  straight,  three 
times  a  day.  All  immigrants  to  this  country,  whatever 
their  national  and  ecclesiastical  antecedents,  become  de 
jure  members  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  and  are 
bound  by  its  laws  and  ritual.  The  Moravian  must 
abandon  the  exquisite  litanies  of  his  fathers,  and  the 
German  must  forsake  the  hymns  of  Luther  and  of 
Gerhardt,  that  they  may  learn  the  provincial  ways  of 
another  European  tribe,   and    recite   the   Dearly-beloved- 


CONFESSIONS  OF  A  HIGH-CHURCHMAN.  87 

brethren,  and  sing  the  exhilarating  psalms  of  Nahum 
Tate,  or  must  sufter  the  pains  and  penalties  of 
schism.' 

This  hair's-breadth  narrowness  on  ritual  questions  is 
commensurate  with  the  writer's  breadth  of  view  on 
questions  of  theology  and  practical  religion.  He  sincerely 
believes  that  true  theology  on  the  Trinity,  on  the  origin 
of  evil,  and  on  the  relation  of  predestination  to  respon- 
sibility is  found  alone  in  what  he,  in  common  with  the 
infinitesimal  sect  of  a  sect,  believes  to  be  the  doctrine  of 
the  Anglican  church.  So,  also  he  thinks  that  Christian 
self-sacrifice  and  beneficence  are  a  peculium  of  episcopally- 
ordained  ministers.     Witness  the  following: 

"  There  had  been  more  or  less  of  epidemic  disease  hanging  about 
Norowam.  A  drought  in  summer  had  been  followed  by  warm, 
sultry  days,  and  then  by  a  sudden  chill  with  sea  fogs  and  the  raw 
easterly  airs.  Maurice  noticed  that  Winthrop's  handsome  faco 
looked  very  grave  as  he  came  to  his  meals,  that  he  ate  them 
hurriedly  and  was  soon  oif. 

"Maurice  hesitated  to  ask  the  cause,  but -another  of  the  hotel 
boarders  called  out  across  the  table  at  dinner,  'Many  sick  in  the 
parish  ?'  'Several  very  sick,'  was  the  answer.  '  Keeps  you  pretty 
busy,  eh?'  The  young  clergyman  nodded  assent.  'What  is  the 
matter? '  asked  Maurice,  in  a  lower  tone.  '  Oh,  this  horrible 
dysentery.  It  is  the  most  treacherous  thing  we  have,  worse  than 
typhoid,  I  think — except  scarlet  fever  among  the  children,  there  is 
nothing  I  dread  so  much." 

"  '  Well,  but  do  you  have  to  go  where  it  is  ?  '  said  Maurice. 

"  '  Go  !  why  to  be  sure.  I  was  not  speaking  of  myself,  when  I 
said  I  dreaded  it, — in  fact,  I  haven't  thought  of  that — it  is  in  the 
parish  that  I  dread  it. " 

1.  Since  this  article  was  written,  Mr.  Mitcliell's  sect  has  relaxed  a  little  the 
austere  rigor  of  its  demands,  and  the  singing  of  Tate  and  Brady  is  no  longer 
exacted  as  a  condition  of  admittance  to  the  covenants  of  promise. 


88  CONFESSIONS  OF  A  HIGH-CHURCHMAN. 

"  'Why,'  said  the  other,  who  had  put  the  first  question,  'won't 
dysentery  kill  you  parsons  as  quick  as  it  will  the  rest  of  us  ? ' 

"  The  young  man  smiled  slightly,  and  then  said,  '  The  killing  is 
not  in  the  account.  We  have  something  else  to  think  of.  I  have 
not  found  ever  in  my  short  experience  that  men  live  longest  who 
are  most  afraid  ot  dying.  When  I  first  began  to  go  about  among 
the  sick,  one  of  the  Doctors  told  me  not  to  suppose  that  anything 
could  kill  me — and  then  half  the  danger  was  over.  So  I  have  just 
acted  on  that  principle  ever  since — that  is,  not  to  worry  about 
myself  at  all,  which  comes  to  the  same  end.' 

"  Maurice  looked  at  him  with  admiration.'^  pp.  207,  208. 

We  also  admire ;  but  are  at  a  loss  at  which  to  wonder 
most,  whether  at  the  acquaintance  with  Christian  ministers 
which  persuades  our  author  that  it  is  a  rare  and  dis- 
tinguishing virtue  among  them  not  to  shirk  duty  in  a 
dysentery  season ;  or  at  the  narrowness  of  view  which 
convinces  him  that  this  most  moderate  allowance  of 
official  virtue  is  an  Episcopalian  quality,  which  a 
Presbyterian  can  scarcely  attain  unto,  and  which  a 
Unitarian  (to  use  his  own  words)  "  feels  to  be  far  beyond 
his  own  mark."  For  our  part,  we  can  conceive  of  a 
minister  who  would  run  away  from  his  duty  in  an  epidemic 
as  something  to  be  despised  and  kicked  out  of  the  pro- 
fession ;  but  it  would  hardly  occur  to  us,  from  the 
ministers  we  have  happened  to  know,  to  signalize  one's 
attendance  on  dysenter^^  patients  as  anything  exceptionally 
heroic,  or  even  "  beyond  the  mark"  of  an  average 
Unitarian. 

One  cannot  refrain  from  remarking  how  far  more 
contracted  and  illiberal  are  the  habits  of  thinking  of  a 
High-Churchman  in  Mr.  Mitchell's  position,  than  those  of 
an  intelligent  Roman  Catholic.  Those  who  have  read  the 
Article  in  the  Catholic  Worldj  which  was  reviewed  in  the 


CONFESSIONS  OF  A  HIGH-CHURCHMAN.  89 

last  Number  of  the  New  Englander,  will  have  marked  how 
much  better  it  is,  in  point  of  courtes}'-,  of  candid  effort  to 
appreciate  an  antagonist's  position,  of  Christian  love  and 
respect  towards  fellow-disciples  of  Christ  from  whom  he 
is  sundered,  than  it  would  have  been  possible  for  the 
author  to  write  when  he  was  still  lingering,  in  mid- 
progress,  among  the  Anglicans.  The  Romanist  makes  no 
claim  to  Catholicity  which  he  does  not  back  up  with 
earnest  effort,  on  a  scale  commensurate  with  his  claims, 
to  subdue  the  entire  world,  Christian  and  Pagan,  to  the 
papal  obedience.  He  does  not  attempt  to  enforce  the 
provincial  traditions  of  a  petty  region  like  southeastern 
Britain,  upon  the  adoption  of  all  mankind  ;  but  accepts 
the  only  principle  on  which  his  idea  of  an  external 
catholicity  could  possibly  be  realized — the  principle  of 
"  E  iiHiiribus  lumm.'''  Holding  fast  by  certain  great 
fixtures  in  discipline  and  worship— ttie  authority  of  popes 
and  councils,  and  the  forms  of  celebrating  the  mass,  other 
things  are  subject  to  necessary  change  to  adapt  them  to 
varying  times  and  peoples  ;  and  the  traditions  of  diocesan 
sovereignt}^,  which  have  long  been  extinguished  in  the 
Episcopal  Church  by  the  exorbitant  authority  of  Parlia- 
ment or  triennial  synod,  still  linger  in  the  Papal  Church, 
giving  vitality  in  all  its  parts,  and  reminding  one  of  the 
lost  independency  of  churches  in  the  primitive  age.  A 
Roman  Catholic  missionary  in  Connecticut  may,  ijermissii 
su'perioriSj  draw  upon  all  the  resources  of  Protestant 
hymnology,  old  and  new,  and  bid  his  proselytes  worship 
God  in  the  wonted  strains  of  Watts,  and  Wesley,  and 
Toplady,  and  Bonar,  and  Eay  Palmer  ;  he  may  put  on  his 
black  coat,  and  talk  to  them  from  his  improvised  pulpit 
with  as  close  and  familiar  appeal  as  Finney  or  Beecher. 


90  CONFESSIONS  OF  A  HIGH-CHURCIIMAN. 

But  his  next-of-kin  has  one  unvarying  song  for  Morning 
Prayer,  for  Evening  Prayer,  for  Sundays,  for  week-days, 
for  fasts,  for  feasts,  the  same  excerpt  from  John  Calvin, 
(of  whom  he  hates  the  very  name),  the  "  Dearly  beloved 
brethren,  the  Scripture  moveth  us,"  with  its  long  sequel; 
and  cannot  travel  into  the  unevangelized  regions  of 
Puritanism  without  a  band-box,  a  basket  of  prayer-books, 
and  a  clerk  to  start  the  responses.  He  is  doomed  by  the 
inexorable  necessity  of  his  position  to  stand  upon  trifles, 
and  to  look  on  his  own  things  and  not  on  the  things  of 
others.  We  are  bound  to  make  due  allowance  for  this, 
in  observing  the  little  arrogances  and  misconceptions  and 
misrepresentations  of  gentlemen  in  that  position,  and  not 
to  conclude  too  hastily  that  they  proceed  from  any  inward 
deficiency  of  good  manners  or  good  feeling. 

It  is  worth  while  to  make  a  brief  excursus  here  on  the 
practical  question.  How  shall  we  deal  with  well-intending 
gentlemen  who  are  betra3^ed  into  incivilities  to  their 
neighbors  by  the  necessity  of  their  sacerdotal  position  ? 
The  best  answer  may  perhaps  be  found  in  the  experience 
of  the  Rev.  Augustine  Ralston,  as  we  have  learned  it 
from  himself. 

The  Rev.  Walter  Mitchell  gives  his  conception  of  what 
would  have  been  a  first  encounter  between  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Ralston  and  the  Episcopalian  minister  of  Norowam,  as 
follows  : 

"  Provoking?  as  he  [Ralston]  could  be,  when  you  came  to  know 
him  it  was  impossible  to  quarrel  with  him.  He  was  provoking, 
however.  He  took  advantage  of  a  silence  at  the  dinner-table  to 
address  Winthrop  so  pointedly  as  to  draw  the  attention  of  all  upon 
him.  'Brother  Winthrop,  when  shall  we  have  the  pleasure  of  an 
exchange  ? ' 


CONFESSIONS  OF  A  HIGH-CHURCHMAN.  91 

" '  Thank  you,  Mr.  Ralston,  I  shall  be  engaged  till  after 
Christmas,  and  then  I  shall  probably  leave.' 

"  Ralston  bit  his  lip  and  resumed.  *  *  *  *  '  Come,  now,  that 
is  mere  fencing  with  the  question.  Would  you  exchange  with  me  if 
you  had  the  power  ?  ' 

"  'No,  I  would  not,'  said  Winthrop,  tired  ot  this  badgering,  'or 
with  any  other  other  who  tried  to  tease  me  into  it.' 

"  'Oh  !  that  is  not  the  reason.  I  am  not  pressing  you  to  do  the 
thing,  only  to  say  why  you  are  unwilling.  Now,  be  frank  ;  say  it 
is  because  you  do  not  hold  my  orders  to  be  valid.' 

"  'Very  well,  Mr.  Ralston,  you  knew,  before  you  asked  me,  that 
no  Episcopal  clergyman  in  this  Diocese  would  exchange  with  you, 
or  consider  you  to  be  a  lawful  minister.  *  *  *  *  'I  do  not 
consider  you,  in  any  sense,  a  validly  ordained  minister,  and,  unless 
you  are  in  a  different  position  from  most  Congregationalists,  you 
are  a  teacher  of  heresy.'  "     pp.  187,  188. 

Of  course^  in  the  discussion  that  follows,  the  unhappy 
Congregationalist  is  showed  to  have  pulled  down  over- 
whelming arguments  and  repartees  upon  his  head.  Being 
curious  to  know  what  sort  of  a  picture  might  be  made  of 
the  affair,  if  the  lion  should  turn  painter,  we  asked 
Mr.  Kalston,  the  other  day,  what  sort  of  talks  he  used  to 
have  with  his  Episcopalian  neighbor  at  Korowam,  and 
received  an  answer  which,  being  translated  into  the 
romantic  style  of  Mr.  Mitchell's  novel,  would  run  some- 
what as  follows  : 

The  youthful  but  heroic  Ralston  came  back  from  the  exploration 
of  his  new  field,  wearied,  yet  not  discouraged.  But  so  great  a 
draft  upon  his  exquisitely  tender  sympathies  had  quite  exhausted 
him,  and  as  he  sank  into  his  study  chair,  his  classic  head — with  its 
Hyperion  curls  still  surmounted  by  a  delicate  Panama  hat,  like  th(^ 
gold-foil  glory  which  constitutes  the  coiffure  of  a  pre-Raphaelite 
fiaint — dropped  upon  his  marble  hand  in  an  attitude  of  graceful  but 
unaffected  languor. 


92  CONFESSIONS  OF  A  HIGH-CHURCHMAN. 

Augustine  had  not  rested  long,  when  a  tap  was  heard  at  his; 
door  and  a  card  was  laid  on  his  table,  inscribed  in  minute  black- 
letter  characters,  thus  : — 


The  Hector  of  the  Episcopal  Church  (which  was  one  of  several 
sectarian  organizations  that  had  grown  up  about  the  old  parish 
church  of  the  town)  soon  followed  his  card,  on  a  visit  of  courtesy 
to  the  new  comer.  He  was  evidently  a  gentleman.  This  was 
obvious  not  only  from  his  clothes,  and  from  the  way  in  which  his 
hair  was  cut,  but  from  that  partial  paralysis  of  the  facial  muscles 
which  is  cultivated  by  the  first  families  of  Boston  under  the  title  ot 
"  the  Beacon  street  air."  And  yet,  with  all  this,  there  was  a  certain 
professional  style  pricking  out  at  all  points.  As  to  his  costume, 
he  had  the  appearance  of  having  put  himself  into  the  hands  of  a 
"clerical  tailor"  of  extreme  views;  and  in  accordance  with  the 
theory  of  the  great  Tftufelsdrockh,  the  consciousness  of  peculiar 
clothes,  both  on  Aveek  days  and  on  Sundays,  had  done  more  than 
the  doctrine  of  Apostolic  succession  to  ingrain  into  his  mind  the 
pleasing  conviction  that  he  stood  above  the  general  mass  of  men 
and  ministers  in  a  position  of  authority.  It  was  an  amusing  study 
to  Mr.  llalston  to  observe  the  struggle  which  was  always  going  on 
in  his  visitor's  mind,  between  the  natural  modesty  and  courtesy  of 
a  well-bred  gentleman,  and  the  professional  habit  of  feeling  and 


CONFESSIONS  OF  A  HIGIi-ClIURCHMAN.  93 

acting  with  an  air  of  superiority  and  condescension.  Ralston  was 
quite  too  good-natured  to  disturb  tor  a  moment  the  harmless  little 
pompousness  of  this  assumption  on  the  part  of  his  new  friend  ;  but 
when  he  observed  how  embarrassed  the  latter  was  in  the  continual 
collision  between  his  respectfulness  and  almost  timid  deference, 
and  his  professional  loftiness,  it  seemed  a  mere  act  of  humanity  to 
relieve  him. 

Accordingly,  when  the  Reverend  Mr.  Winthrop,  after  a  long  and 
lively  conversation,  buttoned  the  perpendicular  row  of  buttons  to 
his  chin  and  stood  gazing  for  a  moment  upon  his  clerical  hat,  as  if 
momentarily  expecting  it  to  bifurcate  into  a  mitre,  Ralston 
responded  cordially  to  his  "  Good  evening,"  and  added  an 
expression  of  pleasure  at  the  new  acquaintance, — "although,"  said 
he,  "I  feel  bound  to  say,  at  the  outset,  that  these  social  relations 
must  not  be  understood  as  implying  any  mutual  relations  whatever 
of  an  official  character." 

"  0.  certainly,"  quickly  replied  the  other,  "  we  can't,  of  course, 
you  know a " 

"  Of  course  we  cannot,  Mr.  Winthrop,  said  Ralston,  kindly,  but 
sternly;  "it  is  out  ot  the  question  for  me  to  recognize  the  validity 
of  your  ordination." 

"  Why,  but  Mr.  Ralston,  you  do  not  understand,  perhaps,  that  1 
am  the  rector  of  St.  Bardolph's  church,  and  have  had  the  imposition 
of  hands  from  Bishop  Gardiner." 

"  'My  dear  sir,  I  do  not  question  for  a  moment  the  impositions 
you  have  undergone.  But  a  very  little  attention  to  the  Greek 
Testament  will  show  you  that  the  essence  of  ordination  is  not  in 
the  yjipo^iaLU^  or  laying  on  of  hands,  but  in  the  yjiporovia,  or 
holding  up  of  hands  of  the  assembly  of  believers  in  the  election  of 
the  elder  or  bishop,  which  ever  he  may  be  called.  I  do  not  doubt, 
at  all,  that  you  have  been  attentive  enough  to  the  forms  and 
accidents  of  ordination;  what  you  lack  is  the  very  substance  of  the 
thing.  These  impositions  that  you  speak  of  are  all  well  enough  as 
between  yourself  and  Bishop  Gardiner,  and  the  separatists  Avho 
consort  with  him;  but  is  plainly  impossible  that  they  should  fulfill 
the  requirements  of  the  Scriptures,  or  confer  upon  you  any  standing 
in  the  Church  Catholic." 

"However,"  continued  Ralston,  as  he  saw  a  look  of  dejection 


94  CONFESSIONS  OF  A  HIGH-CHURCHMAN. 

creep  over  Wintlirop's  feminine  features,  and  a  rosy  flush  suffusing 
his  fine  complexion,  up  to  the  very  roots  of  his  silken  and  wavy 
hair,  "  you  must  not  feel  entirely  cast  down.  We  are  not  disposed 
to  insist  unreasonably  upon  points  like  this,  when  we  see  a  man 
really  trying  to  be  useful,  as  I  hear  from  all  quarters  that  you  are.'^ 
—here  Winthrop  boAved  with  an  evident  expression  of  relief— "but 
you  will  acknowledge,  yourself,  that  we  could  not  entirely  overlook 
defects  and  irregularities  such  as  I  have  pointed  out  to  you." 

Notwithstanding  the  benignant  look  that  beamed,  as  he  spoke, 
from  Kalston's  face,  Winthrop  shrunk  timidly  toward  the  threshold, 
and  all  that  was  heard  in  reply  before  he 

plunj^od  all  noiseless  into  the  dark  night,' 

was,   "  Well,  I'm  sure a — a — I  never  thought a — a — but  I 

don't  see a — a — Good  night." 

As  Ralston  turned  to  his  self-denying  labors,  a  faint  smile  might 
have  been  seen  to  steal  over  his  noble  but  melancholy  features. 

Nothing  could  have  been  happier  than  the  effect  of  this  timely 
explanation  ;  for  Winthrop,  who  had  never  before  been  able  to 
keep  up  any  sort  of  terms  of  amity  with  his  clerical  neighbors, 
found  himself  thenceforth  relieved,  in  Ralston 's  society,  from  his 
most  besetting  embarrassments,  and  cultivated  a  friendship  for  him 
which  was  cordially  reciprocated.  (From  ^'Augustine  Ralston;  or 
The  Hero  of  the  Faith,"  an  unwritten  novel.) 

III.  It  will  do  us  all  good  to  learn  from  these 
Confessions  of  Mr.  Mitchell,  how  it  is  possible  for  a  man 
to  be  led  into  a  narrow  schismatic  position,  in  relation  to 
the  Catholic  Church,  the  Communion  of  Saints,  by  truly- 
generous  considerations.  It  may  seem  paradoxical,  and 
yet  we  believe  that  Mr.  Mitchell  might  justly  claim,  if  he 
knew  the  real  history  of  his  own  mind,  that  he  was  drawn 
towards  that  noisy  little  secession  from  the  general 
communion  of  believers  which  now  holds  his  allegiance, 
by  a  true  love  for  the  whole  body  of  Christ's  disciples, 
and    a    hatred    of   divisions.      There    is    really   touching 


CONFESSIONS  OF  A  IIIGH-CIIURCHMAN.  95- 

evidence  of  the  working  of  this  influence  in  the  warm- 
hearted, though  unpractical  eloquence  with  which  Bishop 
Cleveland  Coxe,  on  a  "  Christian  Union  "  platform,  urges 
upon  brethren  of  other  bodies  of  clergy  the  acceptance  of 
a  free  grant  of  apostolic  succession,  as  the  one  hope  of  a 
reunited  Christendom,  and  the  one  deliverance  from  that 
frightful  bugbear,  the  Pope.  It  is  the  mark  of  a  true 
Christian  heart,  to  be  disgusted  with  the  "  Evangelical  " 
cant  which  vindicates  the  scandal  and  nuisance  of  our 
modern  schisms  as  being  ordered  by  an  all-wise  Providence, 
and  as  contributing  to  the  total  effectiveness  of  Christianit}^. 
We  cannot,  therefore,  but  respect  the  motives  which 
hurry  some  impatient  souls  to  seek  a  solution  of  this 
trouble  in  High-Churchism — that  is,  in  declaring  that 
their  sect  is  the  Church,  and  in  intense,  conscientious 
making-believe  that  there  are  no  Christians  (except 
"  after  a  sort")  outside.  The  noblest  example  of  this 
method  of  restoring  church-unity  is  that  of  the  little 
handful  of  Samaritans  who  to  this  day  live  in  the  city  of 
Sychar  and  kill  their  yearly  passover  on  Gerizim.  That 
little  remnant,  of  fortj'  families,  hold  that  "  in  this 
mountain  men  ought  to  worship,"  and  that  all  outside  of 
their  fellowship  are  "  strangers  to  the  covenants  of 
promise,"  and  when  taunted  with  their  feeble  numbers^ 
declare  with  confidence  that  somewhere  beyond  the 
Sabbatical  river,  which  flows  impassably  for  six  days  in 
the  week,  and  runs  dry  only  on  the  seventh,  are  hosts 
and  nations  of  good  Samaritans,  who  are  hindered  by 
nothing  but  a  rigid  Sabbatarianism  from  marching  forth 
to  manifest  their  fellowship  with  their  feeble  brethren.  In 
like  manner  our  little  knot  of  High-Churchmen  having 
solved    the    difficulty   of  the   division  of  the    church   by 


96  CONFESSIONS  OF  A  HIGH-CHURCHMAN. 

declaring  their  fragment  to  be  the  church,  are  accustomed 
to  keep  up  each  others'  spirits  by  promising  one  another 
that  some  time  or  other,  when  the  Sabbatical  river  of 
Greek  and  Armenian  exclusiveness  shall  be  dried  up  on  a 
week-da}^,  we  shall  see  what  we  shall  see.  "  Expectant 
dum  defluit  amnis." 

We  have  a  very  considerable  measure  of  respect  for 
the  exclusiveness  of  the  High-Churchman.  It  is  no  very 
long  time  since  w^e  have  ourselves  been  arguing  that  to 
make  a  truce  and  open  diplomatic  relations  with  seceders 
w^as  no  way  to  national  unity;  and  we  have  no  disposition 
to  flinch  from  the  parity  of  reasoning  which  concludes 
that  the  unity  of  the  Church  of  Christ  is  not  be  gained  by 
the  organizing  of  its  factions  into  several  confederated 
and  mutually  militant  parties,  picketed  against  each  other 
from  village  to  Adllage  through  the  land,  but  " recognizing" 
each  other,  and  having  certain  diplomatic  relations,  as  of 
pulpit  exchange,  and  so  forth.  This  is  the  ideal  church 
unity  to  which  the  Tract  Society  bears  its  cautious 
witness,  and  after  which  the  heterogeneous  leaders  of 
Mr.  Kimball's  "  Christian  Union  Society "  led  one 
another  such  a  pretty  chase  some  two  years  ago,  and 
came  out  nowhere.  We  believe  that  a  generation  is 
growing  up  which  will  see  the  folly  of  all  such  Eirenica 
as  these,  and  which  will  candidly  acknowledge,  to  the 
honor  of  the  little' squad  of  High-Church  Episcopalians, 
that,  in  their  ridiculous  way,  they  did  nevertheless  bear 
unconscious  witness,  in  a  perverse  age,  to  the  principle 
and  duty  of  Christian  Union,  and  by  the  obstinacy  of 
their  schismatic  practices  did  testify  against  schism 
tolerated  and  approved.  And  we  tender  them  a  certain 
amount  of  qualified  sympathy,  in  view,  of  the  aggravating 


CONFESSIONS  OF  A  HIGH-CHURCHMAN.  97 

behavior  of  the  recusant  Thrall,  Cotton  Smith,  and  Tyng, 
Jr.,  whose  notorious  latitude  of  exchange  with  Presbyterian 
and  Congregational  neighbors  no  episcopal  or  canonical 
authority  has  thus  far  been  able  to  restrain. 

It  is  superfluous  to  point  out  how  absurd  a  contrivance 
for  healing  the  wounds  of  Christendom  is  the  Mitchell 
prescription  of  a  little  more  apostolic  succession. 
Mr.  Bryan  Maurice  sneers  at  the  American  chapel  at  Rome 
as  a  "funny  compound.  One  week  it  was  Presb)^terian, 
the  next  New  School  Taylorite,  the  third  Dutch 
Reformed;" — the  hymn  that  is  sung  "says  that  ^The 
voice  of  Free  Grace  cries  Escape  to  the  mountain  ; '  and 
then  the  Doctor  prayed  that  the  elect  might  be  speedily 
brought  to  a  sense  of  the  truth ;  and  then  Mr.  Adams 
told  us  that  we  had  only  to  will  to  be  converted,  by 
calculating  the  advantages  of  the  step,  and  we  should  be 
converted."  His  biographer  will  not  pretend  that  the 
theological  variations  here  caricatured  are  wider  in  range 
than  those  which  prevail  among  the  ministers  of  Episcopal 
Churches,  all  the  way  around  from  Pusey  to  Samuel 
Clark  the  Arian,  by  way  of  Thomas  Scott  and  Frederick 
Robertson.  The  absurdity  which  his  sarcasm  cuts  upon 
so  keenly  is  that  of  seeing  Christians  of  these  various 
opinions  coming  together  in  a  foreign  land  for  common 
worship,  with  no  more  of  a  basis  of  union  than  their 
mutual  love,  and  common  trust  for  salvation  upon  the 
same  almighty  Saviour.  If  only  the  flux  of  valid  orders 
had  been  thrown  in,  and  the  incantation  of  the  Dearly- 
beloved-brethren  pronounced,  how  sweetly  they  might 
have  flowed  together!  Not  all  the  family  feuds  and  bitter- 
nesses and  back-bitings  that  have  vexed  "  The  Protestant- 
Episcopal-Church-in-the-United-States-of- America,"  could 

7 


98  CONFESSIONS  OF  A  HIGH-CHURCHMAN. 

make  it  less  than  heavenly  in  its  unity,  if  only  this 
healing  branch  of  priestly  pedigree  could  be  introduced. 
Only  accept  this  boon,  which  comes  begging  to  be  taken, 
— so  we  have  been  assured  many  a  time,  not  only  from 
Episcopalian,  but  from  Episcopal  lips — and  you  come 
right  in  at  once.  New  School  or  Old,  Calvinist  or 
Arminian,  and  no  questions  asked,  and  the  Church  is  one 
again.  Their  principle  of  Christian  union  is  derived, 
evidently  enough,  from  misapprehension  of  a  patristic 
maxim,  which  they  inversely  read  "  in  necessariis, 
libertas  ;  in  non-necessariis,  unitasf'  and  where  the  caritas 
comes  in,  it  is  not  always  easy  to  discover. 

We  cheerfully  concede  to  this  High-Church  party  the 
advantage  incident  to  conscientious  narrowness  of  position^ 
in  giving  energy  to  proselyting  operations.  It  was  the 
remark  of  the  great  Henri  lY.,  that  so  long  as  the 
Huguenot  conceded  the  salvability  of  the  Catholic,  while 
the  Catholic  refused  to  concede  the  salvability  of  the 
Huguenot,  nothing  could  be  expected  of  the  controversy 
but  that  the  Huguenot  should  go  to  the  wall.  We  must 
make  up  our  minds  to  yield  this  advantage  to  our  High- 
Church  Episcopalian  friends,  just  as  they,  in  turn,  will 
have  to  give  it  up  when  their  approaching  contest  with 
the  Komanist  comes  on.  But  so  long  as  they  continue  to 
hold  it,  it  gives  a  certain  air  of  dignity  and  religious  duty 
to  the  electioneering  and  wheedling,  as  well  as  to  the 
argument  and  authority,  by  which  sea  and  land  are  com- 
passed to  get  a  man  out  of  one  Christian  sect  and  into 
another.  We  can  have  a  genuine  respect  for  the  home 
propagandism  of  our  Episcopal  brother,  who  rejoices  over 
every  new  proselyte  brought  over  from  a  godly  Methodist 
or  Presbyterian  family  as  over  a  brand  snatched  from  the 


CONFESSIONS  OF  A  HIGH-CHURCHMAN.  99 

burnings  when  if  our  Congregational  or  Presbyterian 
brother  should  be  caught  mousing  about  in  the  same  way, 
we  should  be  very  much  ashamed  of  him.  This  conviction 
of  an  exclusive  divine  privilege  conferred  upon  the 
ecclesiastical  corporation,  is  a  very  good  and  energizing 
thing  for  the  sect,  but  a  very,  very  bad  and  demoralizing 
thing  for  the  members  of  it.  And  yet  it  is  the  only  thing 
which  can  give  respectability  or  substantial  vigor  to  that 
pushing  and  elbowing  effort  for  self-advancement  which 
characterizes  the  dissenting  sects  in  England,  and  the 
Episcopal  denomination  in  this  country.  "  There  is  some- 
thing peculiar  about  your  American  Episcopalians  " — 
this  was  a  remark  which  we  once  heard  from  an  accom- 
plished lady,  a  devout  member  of  the  English  Established 
Church — "  they  seem  so  very  much  like  our  English 
dissenters." 

In  conclusion,  we  gladly  take  the  opportunity  to  testify 
that  it  would  be  altogether  unjust  to  judge  JMr.  Mitchell 
by  his  book.  From  the  admiring  descriptions  of  his 
favorite  heroes,  it  is  much  to  be  feared  that  his  readers 
will  conceive  of  him  as  a  sentimental  goose,  taking  vast 
pride  in  his  "  white  and  very  handsome  hands,"  his 
"  silken  and  wavy  hair,"  and  his  "  feminine  beauty  "  of 
face ;  choosing  his  religion  mainly  for  architectural 
considerations,  and  under  the  guidance  of  delightful  girls, 
whose  "  Oh,  do,  Mr.  Mitchell ;  something  tells  me  that 
you  will  !  "  it  is  impossible  to  resist.  On  the  contrary, 
he  is  a  very  diligent  and  faithful  Christian  pastor, 
eminently  useful  and  practical,  a  thoughful  student  of  the 
Scriptures,  and  as  liberal  in  his  views  and  dealings  as  is 
compatible  with  his  unfortunate  position.  In  literary 
merit,  this  book  is  far  inferior  to  other  efforts  of  his  pen, 


100  CONFESSIONS  OF  A  HIGH-CHURCHMAN. 

in  prose  and  verse :  so  that  we  are  disposed  to  accept  the 
apology,  if  it  should  be  offered,  that  the  author  has 
purposely  written  it  doivn  both  in  style  and  argument,  to 
the  taste  and  capacity  of  the  class  of  young  people  whom 
he  considers  most  hopeful  subjects  of  his  zeal.  We 
strongly  recommend  it  to  Episcopalian  ministers,  for 
lending  to  susceptible  young  people  in  their  neighbors' 
congregations,  of  inferior  intelligence,  but  ardent  longings 
after  the  first  society. 


►^^«^*cOs&?<- 


IS  SCHISM  A  NECESSITY  ?  101 


Y. 


IS   SCHISM  A   NECESSITY?* 


AN  OPEN  LETTER  TO  THE  RIGHT  REVEREND  A.  C.  COXE,  D.D., 
BISHOP  IN  WESTERN  NEW  YORK. 

My  Dear  Sir  : 

I  cannot  plead,  in  apology  for  addressing  you  thus 
publicly,  that  I  am  moved  to  it  by  the  reading  of  your 
recent  volume  entitled  ApoUoSy  or  the  Way  of  God.  It  is 
my  misfortune,  and  I  feel  it  seriousl}?-,  that  I  have  not  yet 
had  the  opportunity  of  reading  the  book,  for  I  doubt  not 
tliat  it  throws  light  on  the  subject  on  which  I  would 
speak  to  you,  and  answers  in  advance  many  of  the 
questions  which  I  wish  to  put.  But  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
I  had  already  begun  to  put  my  thoughts  and  questions 
into  the  form  of  a  letter  to  you,  when  I  saw  the  announce- 
ment of  your  book.  And  my  reason  for  this  use  of  your 
name  was  that  I  knew  you,  through  both  public  and 
private  acquaintance,  as  the  man  who  more  than  any 
other  in  the  Episcopal   Church  in   America   cherishes  an 

*  From  the  New  Englander  Quarterly,  for  April,  1874. 


102  IS  SCHISM  A  NECESSITY? 

intelligent  conviction  of  "  High  Church"  principles,  in  con- 
junction with  a  warm  love  for  all  Christian  believers,  and 
a  "  continual  sorrow  of  heart "  over  the  schisms  by  which 
they  are  divided  from  each  other  and  miserably  weakened 
in  their  work  "  for  the  whole  estate  of  Christ's  Church 
militant." 

AVhat  is  the  subject  upon  my  mind  you  have  already 
conjectured.  According  to  the  direction  from  which  it  is 
viewed,  it  might  be  stated  either  as  the  restoration  of  the 
Episcopal  Church  to  the  communion  of  the  Church 
Catholic  ;  or,  (in  an  aspect  more  obvious  from  your  own 
point  of  view)  as  the  facilitating  of  the  communion  of 
Christians  generally  with  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church.  But  instead  of  attempting  to  define  or  discuss 
the  subject  in  a  general  way,  I  beg  jouv  attention  to  it  in 
the  most  practical  form,  as  illustrated  in  a  very  needless 
and  useless  schism  lately  effected  in  the  little  community 
of  American  Christians  residing  at  Geneva.  There  is 
nothing  unprecedented  or  even  unusual  in  the  facts  of 
this  case.  I  mention  them  simply  in  order  to  bring  the 
subject  fairly  into  view. 

There  has  long  existed  among  the  American  Christians 
at  Greneva  the  desire  for  a  church  where  they  could  unite 
in  common  worship.  Of  late,  this  desire  has  taken  the 
form  of  a  practical  resolution.  The  movers  in  the  enter- 
prise were  of  various  denominations ;  but  so  cordial  was 
the  good-will  that  the  majority  deferred  to  the  preferences 
of  the  Episcopalians  among  them,  and  measures  were 
taken  to  procure  an  Episcopalian  minister  and  organize  the 
congregation  according  to  the  forms  of  that  denomination. 
These  measures  having  failed,  they  proceeded  at  a  later 
period,    with    the    same   fraternal   spirit,   to    organize    a 


IS  SCHISM  A  NECESSITY  ?  103 

church  indepeadently  of  any  question  of  sect.  The 
preferences  of  the  Episcopalian  brethren  were  still  con- 
sulted in  the  order  of  public  worship  adopted.  A  convenient 
place  of  worship  was  engaged  ;  the  services  of  a  diligent, 
earnest,  and  able  pastor  were  secured  and  his  support 
pledged  ;  regular  services  were  begun  ;  and  plans  were  at 
once  laid  for  building  an  American  church-edifice. 

These  arrangements  had  been  completed  only  a  few 
weeks,  when  a  zealous  Episcopal  minister,  who  was 
residing  at  the  time  in  Italy  as  a  missionary  for  the  pro- 
motion of  Christian  union,  hastened  to  (xeneva,  got  out 
his  posters  announcing  a  separate  series  of  services, 
organized  a  separate  congregation,  started  his  opposition 
building-subscription,  and  seems  now  in  a  fair  way,  unless 
some  good  influence  should  interfere,  to  accomplish  a 
permanent  schism  in  the  little  population  of  American 
Christians  in  Geneva. 

The  most  mischievous  results  of  this  schism  were  not 
obvious  when  it  was  first  effected.  It  was  during  the 
brief  season  of  summer  travel,  when,  for  a  few  weeks, 
Geneva  is  full  of  Americans  passing  to  and  fro,  or 
sojourning  for  a  short  time.  Accordingly,  both  services 
were  well  attended  and  well  supported  for  the  time.  To 
be  sure,  as  a  matter  of  taste,  it  was  not  pleasant  to  see 
the  less  honorable  features  of  American  church-life  so 
distinctl}^  protruded  before  the  observation  of  people 
abroad  ;  —  the  "  running"  of  rival  churches  on  the  principle 
that  "competition  is  the  life  of  business;"  —  the  rival 
show-bills  displayed  in  public  places  side  by  side,  the  new 
one  quite  eclipsing  the  old  in  dimensions,  with  an  air  of 
"  no-connection-with-the-shop-o ver-the- way ; "  —  the  busi- 
ness-like  cards  in    circulation    at   hotels    and    boarding 


104  IS  SCHISM  A  NECESSITY  ? 

houses  ;  —  the  gentle  bragging  and  "  touting  "  on  the  part 
of  the  friends  of  the  respective  enterprises,  mingled  with 
faint  praises,  almost  fading  into  civil  disparagements,  of 
the  rival  undertaking — all  this  is  sufficiently  astonishing 
to  the  European  mind,  which  is  just  now  very  earnestly 
intent  in  studying  the  American  method  of  conducting 
religious  institutions ,  and  it  is  not  gratifying  to  the 
pride  or  the  conscience  of  all  Americans. 

But  now  that  the  summer  torrent  of  travel  has  run 
by,  the  mischiefs  of  this  schism  become  more  apparent. 
The  congregations  are  dwindled  to  a  few  meagre  dozens 
a-piece,  each  comforting  itself  in  its  scantiness  with  the 
probability  that  the  other  is  still  smaller.  Contributions 
and  subscriptions  decline — the  zeal  of  some  to  give  for 
strife's  sake  being  balanced  by  the  disgust  of  others  at 
the  wanton  waste,  and  worse  than  waste,  of  money 
requiring  for  sustaining  the  schism.  Of  course,  the 
temptation  (however  successfully  it  may  have  been,  thus 
far,  resisted)  to  the  ill  feelings  commonly  attendant  upon 
schism,  is  increased,  i^nd  if  this  is  so  now,  what  will  it 
be  when  the  tug  of  building  begins?  —  when  the  monu- 
ments which  are  to  perpetuate  this  scandal,  and  hold  it 
continually  in  public  view,  begin  to  rise  painfully  from 
their  foundations?  —  when  each  party  begins  to  feel  in  its 
pocket  the  inconvenience  of  the  existence  of  the  other 
party  ?  —  when  over  every  stranger  of  uncertain  allegiance 
and  large  means  there  arises  a  contention  as  over  the 
body  of  Moses,  and  the  fancy-fairs  and  pious  lotteries 
begin  to  flourish,  to  the  glory  of  God  and  the  edification 
of  the  Church  ? 

It  will  be  alleged  that  this  state  of  things  is  compelled, 
in   the   circumstances,   as   the   inexorable    result  of  the 


IS  8CH1SM  A  NECESSITY  ?  105 

conscientious  principles  of  the  dominant  party  in  the 
Episcopal  Church.  If  this  is  so,  there  is  nothing  more  to 
he  said  in  the  hope  of  accommodation.  We  cannot  ask 
for  a  sacrifice  of  principle.  We  must  respect,  how  much 
soever  we  may  lament  it,  a  schism  for  conscience'  sake, 
in  which  there  is  no  schismatic  spirit,  and  m,ust  make  up 
our  minds  to  the  suspension  of  all  religious  intercourse 
and  common  worship  between  Protestant  Episcopalians 
and  the  rest  of  the  Church  Catholic,  imputing  it  to  their 
principles  and  not  to  themselves,  and  viewing  it  as  the 
reduction  of  those  principles  ad  ctbsiirclum. 

But  is  such  non-intercourse  necessarily  a  matter  of 
principle  ?  Is  there  no  possible  modus  Vivendi  according 
to  which  the  American  Episcopalians  in  one  of  these 
transatlantic  colonies  may  without  sin  join  in  common 
worship  Avith  their  fellow-Christians  of  the  same  country 
and  language  ?  It  seems  to  me  that  the  inquiry  has  never 
been  thoroughly  and  candidly  made,  unless,  peradventure, 
it  has  been  made  in  your  recent  volume  entitled  "  Apollos." 
The  attempts  at  solving  it  seem  to  me  to  have  been  made 
with  no  adequate  understanding  of  the  differences 
involved,  or  else  with  no  respect  for  them.  Permit  me  to 
say  for  myself,  in  apology  for  this  new  Eirenikon,  that  I 
have  no  disrespect  even  for  the  exclusivism  of  High 
Church  Episcopalians.  I  regard  it  as  the  only  effective 
practical  protest  extant  against  the  prevailing  "  evan- 
gelical "  heresy  that  the  normal  state  of  the  Church 
universal  is  schism  ;  that  sects  are  a  good  thing,  so  that 
the  more  sects  you  can  have  (within  reasonable 
limits)  the  better;  and  that  the  Holy  Catholic  Church, 
the  communion  of  saints,  consists  properly  of  a  series 
of   strenuously    competing    denominations,     maintaining 


IQQ  IS  SCHISM  A  NECESSITY  ? 

diplomatic  relations  and  exchange  of  pulpits  ;  "  sinking 
their  differences"  in  a  Tract  Society  that  agrees  to 
be  mum  on  all  controverted  points ;  and  meeting 
occasionally  in  an  "  Alliance."  So  long  as  this  con- 
tinues to  be  the  highest  prevalent  conception  of 
Christian  fellowship,  we  need  the  protest  of  High 
Churchism,  in  its  most  uncompromising  form,  in  favor  ol 
the  organic  unity  of  the  Christian  Church.  I  would  not 
have  that  protest  made  one  whit  less  effective.  I  do  not 
believe  that  a  protest  against  schism  is  less  effective  for 
not  being  made  in  a  schismatic  spirit.  I  do  not  believe 
that  the  usefulness  or  the  dignity  of  the  Episcopal  Church 
(as  represented  in  its  dominant  party)  would  be  in  the 
least  impaired  by  its  asserting  its  principles  courteously 
and  affectionately  towards  other  Christians,  with  some 
expression  of  regret  when  diflPerence  of  principle  seems  to 
involve  the  necessity  of  separation  ;  and  by  its  doing  its 
best  to  free  itself  from  the  reproach  of  being  the  most 
pushing,  elbowing,  scrambling,  and  unscrupulous  of  all 
the  sects.  I  believe  that  its  best  mission,  that  of  asserting 
the  necessity  of  appointed  forms  of  permanent  Christian 
fellowship,  can  be  fulfilled  in  such  wise  as  not  to  offend 
the  sinrit  of  Christian  fellowship.  I  have  often  found 
much  of  the  poetry  and  theory  of  Christian  communion 
-among  Episcopalians,  and  always  a  great  deal  more  of 
the  practical  spirit  of  it  among  non-Episcopalians.  The 
former  have  so  worthy  a  desire  for  fellowship  with  the 
Church  of  the  Fourth  Century  that  they  are  ready,  for  the 
sake  of  it,  to  live  in  practical  isolation  from  the  actual 
Church  of  the  Nineteenth  Century.  They  are  so  earnestly 
(though  hitherto  vainly)  desirous  to  open  some  special 
relations  of  communion  with  Old  Catholics,  or  Greeks,  or 


IS  SCHISM  A  NECESSITY  ?  107 

ArmeniaDS,  three  or  four  thousand  miles  away,  that  they 
tear  themselves  asunder  with  alacrity  from  their  own 
fellow-conntr3anen  and  fellow-Protestants. 

The  things  which  hinder  Episcopalians  from  common 
worship  with  their  fellow-Christians  generally^  luay  be 
summed  up  under  three  heads:  1.  Conditions  of  Com- 
munion.    2.  Ritual.     3.  Authority  of  the  Ministry. 

1.  In  respect  to  the  conditions  of  communion^  the  only 
thing  of  the  nature  of  a  principle  that  need  be  waived  by 
Episcopalians  is  waived  already,  in  their  actual  practice. 
I  refer  to  that  expressed  in  the  rubric  at  the  end  of  the 
Confirmation-service,  to  the  effect  that  "  there  shall  none 
be  admitted  to  the  Holy  Communion  until  such  time  as  he 
be  confirmed,  or  be  ready  and  desirous  to  be  confirmed." 
The  efi*ect  of  this  rubric,  if  followed,  would  be  to  make 
the  Episcopal  Church  a  close-communion  corporation, 
like  the  American  Baptists.  By  a  happy  inconsistencj^, 
which  shows  how  easy  it  is  to  find  a  way  through  a  rule, 
if  there  is  only  a  will,  this  rubric  is  commonly,  not  to  say 
generally,  set  aside  whenever  it  is  found  to  work  incon- 
veniently. On  the  other  hand,  the  pernicious  use  of 
formularies  of  dogma  as  a  ritual  for  receiving  candidates 
for  the  Lord's  Supper,  which  has  spread  from  the  Con- 
gregationalists  iuto  so  many  of  the  Evangelical  commu- 
nions of  America,  is  practicallj^  abandoned  by  them 
whenever  occasion  requires. 

2.  The  subject  of  ritual  might  seem  to  be  one  of  great 
difficulty.  If  Episcopalians  can  not  agree  about  it  among 
themselves,  how  can  they  hope  to  agree  with  the  rest  of 
the  Church  ?  But  I  believe  that  practically  there  is  no 
serious  difficulty  about  it.  There  was  once  a  diff'erence 
of  principle  between  the  parties.     That  was   when  it  was 


108  IS  SCHISM  A  NECESSITY  ? 

held  by  all  Puritan  churches  that  human  compositions  in 
divine  worship  were  forbidden.  The  contest  over  this 
tenet  was  fought  out  for  American  Christendom  a  hundred 
years  ago,  on  the  question  of  using  Watts'  Hymns.  It 
lingers  among  us  to-day  only  in  a  dwindling  sect  of 
Scotchmen,  and  in  a  few  feeble  minds  which  are  capable 
of  believing  that  what  is  tolerable  and  even  edifying  in 
verse,  becomes  an  offense  in  prose. 

On  the  other  hand,  is  there  anything  of  the  nature  of 
principle  to  forbid  Episcopalians  from  joining  in  worship 
otherwise  than  in  their  own  forms  ?  A  canon  (i,  20) 
indeed  forbids  Episcopal  ministers  ever  to  preach  or  to 
conduct  worship  except  with  the  use  of  the  Common 
Prayer  without  interpolation.  But  it  does  not  appear 
that  even  the  letter  of  this  regulation,  far  less  anything 
worthy  to  be  called  a  principle,  forbids  the  use  of  other 
acts  of  worship  after  the  "  Common  Prayer "  is  ended. 
The  only  thing  which  excludes  these,  is  the  excessive 
length  of  the  three  services  in  one  which  are  prescribed 
for  every  Lord's  Day ;  and  the  ingenuity  of  Episcopalian 
ministers  has  not  been  employed  in  vain  in  discovering 
ways  of  keeping  the  law  and  shortening  the  service  at  the 
same  time.  Doubtless  there  are  Episcopalians  who  with- 
out due  reflection  have  adopted  the  notion  that  the 
Prayer-Book,  as  they  have  become  accustomed  to  it, 
together  with  the  pattern  of  a  black  and  white  gown,  was 
showed  to  Moses  in  the  Mount.  But  happily,  in  the  case 
of  congregations  of  Americans  abroad,  it  is  not  with 
minds  of  this  class  that  one  has  chiefly  to  do.  The 
travelled  or  travelling  Christian  is  ordinarily  of  a  more 
liberal  mind  than  the  average  domestic  parishioner 
Christians  of  the  non-liturgical  denominations  have  shown 


IS  SCHISM  A  NECESSITY  ?  109 

a  cordial  disposition  to  use  liturgical  forms,  not,  as  I 
think,  from  a  mere  willingness  to  humor  the  preferences 
of  others,  but  in  part  from  a  hearty  appreciation  of  the 
good  that  is  to  be  found  in  such  means  of  worship.  It  is 
not  too  much  to  hope  that,  in  assemblies  for  common 
worship  with  other  Christians,  Episcopalians,  although 
trained  habitually  to  look  too  exclusively  on  their  own 
things,  and  not  on  the  things  of  others,  might  learn  to 
appreciate  what  it  is  in  other  modes  of  worship  which  so 
holds  the  affection  of  the  vast  majority  of  American 
Christians,  including  multitudes  of  those  honored  for  the 
highest  culture,  the  deepest  learning,  the  most  fervid  and 
apostolic  piety.  I  do  not  believe  that  any  wider  modifica- 
tions of  the  Prayer-Book  order  of  worship  would  be 
needed  to  unite  the  prayers  and  praises  of  the  great 
multitude  of  American  Christian  travellers  or  sojourners 
in  Europe,  as  they  find  themselves  together  for  a  longer 
or  shorter  time,  than  such  modifications  as  are  already 
allowed  and  practiced  in  Episcopalian  congregations, 
together  with  such  as  you  would  yourself  acknowledge  to 
be  desirable  for  their  own  sake,  or  in  view  of  the  peculiar 
circumstances  and  character  of  the  congregations,  to  be 
provided  for.  What  these  might  be  I  will  indicate  by- 
and-by. 

3.  We  come  now  to  the  only  real  difficulty  in  the  case. 
It  is,  of  course,  the  claim,  made  in  behalf  of  episcopally- 
ordained  ministers,  of  exclusive  authority  to  administer 
the  word  and  sacraments  of  the  New  Testament.  This 
difficulty  is  real  and  great.  It  is  not  to  be  evaded  by 
pretending  not  to  see  it,  or  treating  it  otherwise  than  as 
a  serious  and  conscientious  conviction  in  the  minds  of 
many  by  whom  it  is  alleged.     Not  the  slightest  progress 


110  IS  SCHISM  A  NECESSITY  ? 

towards  the  solution  of  it  is  made  by  means  of  occasional 
departures  from  the  ordinary  Episcopalian  usage  on  this 
point  by  persons  who  do  not  feel  the  difficulty  in  their 
own  minds.  But  there  is  certainly  no  hope  of  solving  it 
by  the  process  of  persuading  American  Christians 
generally  to  agree  in  putting  any  kind  of  slight  or  affront 
upon  the  great  body  of  the  most  beloved  and  honored  of 
American  ministers  of  the  gospel,  and  to  enter  into 
arrangements  by  which  they  are  to  be  forbidden  to 
minister  in  the  congregations  of  their  fellow-countrymen 
abroad.  The  successful  reconciliation  must  guard  from 
infraction  the  principles  held  by  many  Episcopalians, 
without  excluding  from  a  share  in  the  services  of  these 
mingled  congregations  of  sojourners  the  approved  ministers 
of  other  denominations.  Such  a  reconciliation,  if  only 
there  is  a  will  for  it,  is  not  impossible. 

There  are  two  suggestions,  familiar  already  to  thought- 
ful minds  in  the  Episcopal  Church,  which  bear  upon  the 
problem  :  (1)  That  the  functions  of  teaching  and  leading 
the  worship  of  Christian  assemblies  are  not  necessarily  a 
l)eculium  of  the  priesthood.  (2)  That  it  may  be  possible 
to  confer  the  authority  implied  in  Episcopal  ordination 
upon  ministers  of  other  communions.  I  may  add  to  these 
(3)  that  it  might  be  possible  for  ministers  of  other  com- 
munions, in  some  circumstances,  to  accept  episcopal 
ordination,  becorping  loyally  responsible  to  the  bishop  for 
all  such  acts  as  they  should  perform  by  virtue  of  it,  if 
they  were  not  thereby  to  be  cut  off  from  the  general 
fellowship  of  the  Christian  ministry  ;  and  (4)  that  the 
importance,  especially  in  these  foreign  congregations,  of 
having  some  better  guard  against  the  intrusion  of  unfit 
persons    into    sacred   functions  than  is  afforded    by    the 


IS  SCHISM  A  NECESSITY?  Ill 

ordinary  constitution  of  a  "  Union  Church  "  would  be 
cordially  appreciated  by  wise  men  of  all  the  uniting  con- 
fessions, and  most  of  all,  I  venture  to  say,  by  the  foreign 
chaplains  themselves. 

To  bring  all  this  down  to  practical  details,  let  us  take 
the  case  of  this  little  community  of  American  Christians 
in  Geneva  which  it  is  proposed  to  split  into  two  fragments,, 
competing,  striving,  advertising,  bragging,  quarrelling, — 
for  it  is  not  easy  to  have  two  churches,  in  a  community 
which  is  barely  large  enough  for  one,  without  these 
results.  Let  me  sketch  the  outline  of  a  practicable 
union  among  them  which  would  involve  no  sacrifice  of 
principle. 

1.  Let  there  be  no  "  organizing  of  a  church,"  according 
to  a  practice  very  commonly  followed.  This  useless  pro- 
cedure raises  a  great  many  questions  which  need  not  to  be 
raised  at  all — questions  both  dogmatic  and  ecclesiastical. 
All  that  is  needful,  practically,  is  a  house  of  worship  and 
a  pastor  for  this  group  of  travellers  and  sojourners.  The 
effort  to  bring  the  various  Christians  together  for  common 
worship  will  be  all  the  more  fruitful  if  it  is  contented 
with  this  one  object,  and  seeks  for  nothing  beside,  except 
what  comes  freely  of  itself.  It  is  enough,  to  begin  with,, 
that  the  congregation  of  believers  meet  every  Lord's  day 
for  the  worship  of  God  and  the  hearing  of  his  gospel.  If 
that  is  all  that  they  can  agree  upon,  let  us  be  thankful 
for  so  much  as  that.  It  is  not  a  small  thing  that  they 
should  look  one  another  in  the  face  as  fellow-Christians, 
and  join  their  voices  in  common  praise  and  prayer.  If 
for  all  the  rest  they  must  separate — if  the  old  painful 
experience  of  the  Church  through  all  the  ages  of  its 
captivity  must  be   renewed,  and   that  rite   which  should 


112  IS  SCHISM  A  NECESSITY? 

have  expressed  the  general  fellowship  of  the  Church — its 
holy  communion — must  needs  be  used  again  as  the  occasion 
and  symbol  of  its  dissensions — if  when  all  the  rest  come 
with  one  accord  into  one  place  to  eat  the  Lord's  Supper, 
Episcopalians  and  Baptists  must  for  conscience'  sake 
refrain,  and  assemble  for  their  separate  rites, — then  let 
us  be  thankful  for  so  much  of  fellowship  as  we  can  attain 
unto,  and  greatly  honor  the  conscientious  fidelity  which, 
having  gladly  conceded  all  it  can  to  Christian  love, 
pauses  where  it  must  in  obedience  to  Christian  duty. 

If  a  way  be  found  by  which  the  fellow-worshipers  can 
also,  with  a  safe  conscience,  be  fellow-communicants, 
there  need  be  no  provision  or  local  rule  for  "  admitting  to 
the  church "  by  public  rite.  If  penitent  believers  be 
invited,  any  penitent  believer  msij  come  to  the  Lord's 
table.  And  nothing  need  hinder  any  new  communicant 
from  seeking  preparatory  counsel  from  ministers  of  his 
/)wn  preference,  or  confirmation  from  a  bishop  when 
opportunity  should  off'er. 

All  subordinate  organization — for  Sunday  school,  for 
charitable  work,  etc.;  might  be  left  to  grow  up  of  itself, 
allowing  perfect  freedom  and  every  facility  for  division 
whenever  it  was  found  difficult  to  work  together.  With 
such  freedom,  divisions  would  rarely  occur,  and  when 
they  did  occur  would  not  necessarily  iuA^olve  a  general 
split  of  the  whole  community. 

2.  In  the  matter  of  Ritual,  something  would  have  to  be 
conceded  by  Episcopalians,  I  do  not  say  to  the  prejudice 
or  preference,  but  to  the  cowscie^ce  of  Christians  generally. 
As  a  matter  of  conscience,  these  would  not  ordinarily  be 
contented  with  forms  which,  compiled  in  an  age  before 
the  awakening  of  the  missionary  spirit  among  Protestants, 


IS  SCHISM  A  NECESSITY  ?  113 

make  no  adequate  provision  for  prayer  for  the  extension 
of  the  Church,  and  the  conversion  of  the  world  to  Christ ; 
and  which  interdict  the  congregation  from  "  praying  the 
Lord  of  the  harvest  that  he  would  send  forth  laborers 
into  his  harvest."  I  do  not  think  that  they  would  do  right 
to  be  satisfied  without  the  privilege  of  praying  for  the 
supreme  civil  authority  of  their  own  country.  The 
mistake  made  by  the  American  editors  of  the  Common 
Prayer^  of  substituting  for  the  prayer  for  the  King  a 
prayer  for  the  President,  as  if  that  were  equivalent, 
would  have  to  be  rectified  in  some  way.  Por  especially 
at  those  times  of  solemn  election  at  which  the  power 
delegated  for  awhile  to  temporary  functionaries  reverts 
to  the  hands  of  the  supreme  People,  and  great  issues, 
involving  even  the  interests  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ,  may 
be  hanging  upon  their  imperial  decision,  the  conscience  of 
a  Christian  citizen  craves  the  privilege  of  praying, 
according  to  the  spirit  of  the  apostle's  injunction,  for  the 
People  "  as  supreme,  as  well  as  for  presidents  and 
governors  who  are  sent  by ''  the  People.  I  might  cite 
another  instance  of  the  need  of  larger  liberty  of  prayer, — 
I  mean  the  case  of  times  of  financial  anxiety  and  distress, 
which  are  to  modern  society  what  drought  and  famine 
were  to  the  old  world.  But  for  all  these  and  other  like 
cases  no  other  provision  would  perhaps  be  necessary  than 
such  a  provision  for  time,  as  is  already  available  even 
under  the  strictest  letter  of  your  law. 

The  principal  change  necessary  in  order  to  give  full 
scope  to  all  needful  accommodation,  is  that  already  author- 
ized by  a  multitude  of  precedents  in  the  Episcopal  Church, 
both  yVmerican  and  English, — to  have  the  Litany,  or  the 


114:  ^^  SCHISM  A  NECESSITY  ? 

Ante-commiinion  service,  or  both,  at  a  different  hour  from 
the  Morning  Prayer  and  Sermon. 

Some  changes  would  commend  themseh^es,  I  am  sure, 
to  your  own  mind,  as  desirable  in  view  either  of  the 
Jiiictnating  character,  or  of  the  mixed  character  of  such  a 
congregation. 

For  instance,  in  a  fluctuating  congregation,  the  com- 
pensating advantages  of  a  systematic  lectionary,  which 
gives  to  a  stable  company  of  regular  church-goers  the 
substance  of  the  Bible  in  the  course  of  a  year's  morning 
and  evening  lessons,  entirely  disappear,  leaving  only  the 
serious  inconveniences  of  it.  Furthermore,  in  a  com- 
munity in  which  (as  often  in  these  American  communities 
in  Europe)  more  than  one  formal  service  on  the  Lord's 
day  may  seem  inexpedient,  it  would  be  mere  servitude  to 
some  people's  usage  to  take  half  the  psalms  in  the  Psalter 
at  hap-hazard,  and  read  these  to  the  exclusion  of  the 
others.  It  would  be  equally  "  decent  and  in  order  "  and 
much  more  "to  the  edification"  of  all  parties,  in  the 
circumstances,  to  leave  the  selection  of  lessons  and  of 
psalms  to  the  discretion  of  the  minister. 

And  so  in  view  of  the  mixed  character  of  the  congrega- 
tion, could  the  highest  "  churchmanship  "  imagine  a  reason 
why  the  Psalter  should  be  read  in  the  quaint  old  "  Bishops' 
Bible"  version,  familiar  only  to  Episcopalians,  instead 
of  in  the  version  .which  is  both  familiar  and  dear  to  all 
English-speaking  Christians? — or  why  it  should  be  read 
in  alternate  verses,  instead  of  in  responsive  parallelisms? 
Or  is  there  any  divine  authority  in  the  new  Hynmal  of 
the  Episcopal  Church  which  would  make  it  binding  on 
a  congregation  made  up  in  large  part  or  members  of 
other  communions,  in  case  that  congregation,  on  the  whole^ 


IS  SCHISM  A  NF.CESSITY  ?  115 

should  find  it  too  great  a  departure  from  their  customary 
hymnody  ? 

These  are  some  of  the  amendments  which  suggest  them- 
selves when  the  question  is  how  to  adapt  the  Anglo- 
American  order  of  worship  to  the  best  edification  of 
such  a  mixed  and  fluctuating  congregation  as  that  of  an 
American  colony  in  Europe.  They  are  certainly  nothing 
very  startling.  If  assented  to  by  the  proper  authority 
in  the  Episcopal  Church,  would  they  sacrifice  one  atom 
of  principle  held  by  Episcopalians,  or  let  go  any  thing 
that  intelligent  Episcopalians  hold  dear?  They  would 
make  barely  difl^erence  enough  to  show  that  the  congre- 
gation was  not  a  parish  of  the  Episcopal  Church  in  the 
United  States;  and  this  is  just  the  fact  which  it  would  be 
important  to  have  distinctly  understood,  on  all  hands. 

3.  The  difficulties  growing  out  of  the  claim  of  exclusive 
authority  for  episcopally  ordained  ministers  are  of  two 
sorts  :  they  relate  either  (1)  to  the  stated  pastorate,  or 
(2)  to  occasional  services. 

(I.)  With  a  umvete  which  alwsijs  wins  my  aff'ectionate 
admiration,  some  Episcopalian  clergymen  suggest  that  the 
difficulty  touching  the  pastorate  may  be  completely  solved 
by  always  giving  that  office  to  an  Episcopalian —  "  He  is 
acceptable  to  every  one,  you  know,  and  nobody  else 
would  be  acceptable  to  our  people."  I  need  hardly 
explain  to  you  why  this  solution  does  not  strike  all  minds 
as  completely  satisfactory. 

A  more  complete  solution  may  be  sought  in  the  sug- 
gestion, made  long  ago  in  the  Episcopal  Church  apropos 
of  a  certain  "  Memorial,"  and  repeated  almost  impor- 
tunately since,  in  behalf  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  in  the 
interest  of  Christian  Union — that  the  element  of  apostolic 


116  I-^  HOUlSxM  A  NECESSITY? 

authority  derived  from  succession  should  be  introduced 
into  the  ordination  of  ministers  of  other  communions.  In 
the  form  in  which  this  was  first  suggested — the  grafting 
upon  the  stock  of  the  American  Episcopal  Church  of  vast 
branches,  bigger  than  the  stock  itself — it  was  doubtless 
open  to  practical  objections  from  both  sides.  But  to  the 
plan  of  extending  this  offer  of  ordination  to  "  godly  and 
well  learned  men/'  designated  to  the  exceptional  duty  of 
foreign  chaplaincy,  in  order  that  they  might  be  enabled 
to  minister  orderly  and  to  edification  to  Episcopalian 
travellers  and  sojourners,  as  well  as  to  others,  there 
could  be  few  objections  from  your  side  which  would  not 
also  be  objections  to  every  act  of  Christian  comity. 

And  the  difficulties  from  the  other  side,  which  were 
obvious  in  the  case  of  the  "  Memorial "  proposals,  would 
not  prevail  in  the  present  case  supposed.  It  was  an  un- 
likely thing  that  a  great  religious  body,  like  the  Methodist 
Church,  for  instance,  after  negotiation,  deliberation, 
discussion,  and  vote,  should  come  bending  to  its  little 
sister  consenting  to  have  its  illegitimate  ministry 
validated  by  an  improved  mode  of  ordination.  But  it 
is  not  in  the  least  unlikely  that  individual  clergymen, 
and  those  of  the  highest  worth,  might  gladly  receive  a 
special  ordination  for  a  special  work.  There  are  some 
few,  indeed,  who  hold  to  a  theory  of  apostolical  succession 
through  the  presbyterial  line,  and  to  these  few  the  proposal 
of  an  Episcopal  ordination  would  seem  like  a  disparage- 
ment of  their  former  commission.  But  for  my  part,  to 
receive  the  benediction  of  one  of  the  chief  pastors  of 
another  communion,  with  his  commission  to  care  for 
members  of  his  own  flock  scattered  abroad,  would  seem 
to  me  no  more  sacrilegious  than  for  Paul  and  l^arnabas, 


IS  SCHISM  A  NKCESKITY?  '  117 

after  years  of  apostolic  and  prophetic  ministry,  to 
receive  the  laying  on  of  hands  of  their  brethren  when 
sent  to  the  Jews  of  the  dispersion. 

It  has  never  been  claimed  that  helief  ni  the  special 
validity  of  Episcopal  ordination  was  necessary  as  a  con- 
dition of  receiving  such  ordination. 

Will  you  not  explain  to  me  wherein  consists  the  good 
faith  of  those  urgent  invitations  and  expostulations 
repeated  by  high  representatives  of  the  Episcopal  Church, 
yourself  among  others,  to  their  hrethren  of  other 
ministries,  to  remove  the  one  great  hindrance  to  Christian 
Union  by  accepting  the  free  gift  of  the  laying  on  of 
apostolic  hands,  which  would  make  it  right  in  conscience 
to  recognize  them  as  belonging  to  the  true  ministry  of 
Christ's  Church  ?  I .  am  persuaded  that  there  was  an 
honest  meaning  in  it.  as  in  everything  that  I  hear  or  read 
from  you.  It  is  impoi^sible  to  think  that  all  that  was 
intended  in  that  affectionate  appeal  in  behalf  of  Christian 
Union  was  simply  an  invitation  to  come  out  of  Babylon, 
pass  a  year's  quarantine,  and  then  reappear  as  one  of  the 
"  inferior  clergy  "  in  search  of  an  Episcopal  parish.  I  am 
bound  to  presume  that  it  contemplated  some  way  in 
which  one  could  share  the  fellowship  of  the  ministry  of 
the  Episcopal  Church  without  renouncing  that  of  the 
Church  Catholic. 

I  would  fall  back  on  this  for  a  solution  of  the  difficulty. 
Let  the  person  designated  as  pastor  of  a  foreign  American 
congregation,  when  he  happens  to  be  of  some  other 
ministry  than  that  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  on  giving 
satisfactory  evidence  of  his  fitness,  and  satisfactory 
evidence  that  his  special  commission  will  be  exercised  in 
a  generous  and  loyal  spirit,  be  ordained — be   reordained. 


118  IS  SCHISM  A  NECESSITY  ? 

if  you  like  (the  word   need  not   scare   any  one) — to  his 
S2)ecial  mission  in  the  Episcopalian  part  of  his  flock. 

(2.)  The  difficulty  which  relates  to  the  occasional 
services  of  ministers  of  various  Christian  confessions,  who 
from  time  to  time  may  be  sojourners  at  the  place  of  the 
chaplaincy,  is  one  not  less  important  than  that  which 
relates  to  the  pastorate.  To  you  it  is  not  necessary  to 
explain  the  importance  of  it.  No  man  feels  it  more 
distinctly.  But  I  have  no  doubt  that  there  are  those  in 
your  denomination  who  in  all  simplicity  and  sincerity 
fail  to  understand  why  any  should  refuse  to  be  satisfied 
with  an  arrangement  on  this  basis  :  that  the  Reverend 
Mr.  Cream  Cheese,  stopping  over  upon  the  grand  tour, 
should  be  recognized  as  a  clergyman,  and  that  the  most 
illustrious  saints  and  teachers  of  the  American  Church — a 
Stoddard  or  a  Schauffler  on  his  return  from  apostolic  toils 
and  triumphs  in  the  mission-field,  a  Woolsey,  or  a  Hodge, 
a  Simpson  or  a  John  Hall,  rich  from  the  exploration  of 
Christian  truth,  or  glowing  with  the  joy  of  successful 
preaching — should  be  required  to  sit  dumb,  as  not  being 
validly  ordained.  If  there  be  such,  they  ought  to  be 
made  to  understand  that,  even  if  it  were  an  easy  and 
graceful  thing  for  their  Christian  brethren  to  repudiate 
beloved  and  venerated  preachers  of  the  Gospel  for  others 
just  as  good,  the  actual  question  would  he  on  repudiating 
them  for  others  admitted  to  be  inferior.  For  on  this 
point,  although  1  purposel}''  refrain  from  pressing  it 
invidiously,  I  suppose  that  there  is  really  no  doubt  what- 
ever. It  has  been  remarked  on  to  me,  not  long  ago,  with 
great  emphasis,  by  each  of  two  of  the  most  eminent 
dignitaries  of  the  Church  of  England  :  The  importance  of 
this  question,  then,  is  clear.     Happily,  the  solution   of  it 


IS  SCHISM  A  NECESSITY  ?  119 

is  not  far  to  seek.  It  lies  in  recognizing  these  two 
points : 

First :  That  ordination  to  office  in  one  church  does  not 
make  a  man  minister  of  another  church.  Our  principles 
do  not  differ  with  regard  to  this.  When  you  and  I  were 
neighbor  pastors  in  New  York  and  Brooklyn,  if  I  had 
come  into  your  church,  I  should  have  been  a  layman 
there  ;  and  if  you  had  come  into  my  church  you  would 
have  been  a  laymen  with  us, — only  I  should  have  been  at 
liberty,  in  accordance  Avith  the  general  and  graceful  usage 
of  American  churches,  to  recognize  your  official  position 
in  another  church  with  acts  of  courtesy  which  you  W' ould 
have  been  forbidden  by  rules  to  reciprocate. 

The  inference  from  this  principle  is  that  no  person, 
however  ordained,  would  have  any  right  to  officiate  in 
such  a  congregation  as  we  are  supposing,  without  being 
duly  invited. 

Secondly  :  That  the  functions  of  preaching  and  leading 
in  public  worship  are  not  regarded  as  exclusively  priestly 
functions,  even  by  those  who  hold  most  strenuously  that 
there  is  such  a  thing  as  a  "  changeable  priesthood"  in  the 
Christian  Church.  Among  such,  it  is  a  matter  of  rule  and 
usage  and  good  order  that,  in  ordinary  circumstances, 
these  functions  be  discharged  by  those  whom  they 
recognize  as  priests.  But  the  question  is  how  to  provide, 
not  for  ordinary  circumstances,  but  for  extraordinary  ; 
and  it  is  very  certain  that  in  the  Episcopal  Church,  under 
the  most  scrupulous  administration,  persons  having  no 
<ilaim  to  sacerdotal  character  are  invited,  when  occasion 
requires,  to  address  religious  congregations  and  to  offer 
prayers. 

But  I  do   not  think   that   any  would  desire  that  in  a 


120  IS  SCHISM  A  NECESSITY  ? 

congregation  so  peculiarly  situated  the  pulpit-door  should 
be  carelessly  left  open  to  any  person  presenting  himself 
in  a  white  cravat  or  with  a  claim  to  apostolic  succession. 
I  think  it  Avould  be  found  a  general  convenience,  in  the 
circumstances,  if  it  were  understood  that  the  chaplain's 
f/eneral  rule,  on  this  point,  to  be  departed  from  only  for 
good  reason,  was  to  invite  into  his  place  onl}^  persons 
furnished  with  recommendations  from  a  Committee  in 
America  in  which  the  government  of  the  Episcopal  Church 
would  naturally  be  represented. 

I  trust  that  I  have  said  enough  to  show  that  no  lyrincipJe 
stands  in  the  way  of  the  healing  of  such  a  poor,  pitiable 
little  schism  as  the  Episcopal  Church,  through  its  repre- 
sentative and  missionary,  has  effected  in  the  American 
community  at  Geneva.  And  yet  I  have  not  written  with 
sanguine  hopes  of  a  practical  result.  Eor  I  fear  that  the 
ready  answer  to  all  such  suggestions  will  be — must  be^ 
perhaps — a  non  jwssunms  ;  that  the  Episcopal  Church,  and 
each  of  its  bishops  and  ministers,  are  so  bound  by  rules 
to  one  narrow  and  invariable  method  of  operation,  that 
with  the  best  will  in  the  world  it  is  impossible  for  them 
to  depart  from  it.^  I  am  afraid  this  is  so.  I  am  afraid 
that  the  dominant  part)^  in  the  Church  has  bound  itself  as 
under  a  doom  to  hold  its  "  high"  pretensions  in  connection 
with  a  policy  which  impeaches  them  of  holding  those 
pretensions,  I  will  not  say  with  conscious  insincerity,  but 
with  dubious  conviction  and  palpable  unfaithfulness.  For 

1.  This  proved  to  be  literally  the  case.  The  answer  of  B.shop  Coxe  published, 
in  the  same  (iuartoily  iu  October  of  the  same  year,  was  overflowing  with 
expressions  of  kindness  and  respect,  but  the  upshot  of  it  all  was  "we  have  a 
law,  and  by  that  law"  we  must  make  a  schism  wherever  j,we  can  get  a 
foothold.  JjCX  dura  sed  lex.  Of  course  I  do  not  olfer  this  summary  of  Dr.  Coxo's 
article  as  one  wliich  he  would  accept  as  complete,  but  only  as  the  reading  of  it 
from  our  catholic  point  of  view. 


IS  KCHISM  A  NECESSITY  ?  121 

"  high "  principles  can  not  be  held  in  righteousness, 
except  in  connection  with  a  broad  policy.  The  claim  to 
be  the  one  Catholic  Church  for  America,  to  which  the 
allegiance  of  every  baptized  American  is  due,  implies  the 
duty  of  putting  no  wanton  or  arbitrary  hindrance  in  the 
way  of  such  allegiance.  The  pretension  to  be  trustees  of 
a  grand  deposit  of  sacramental  grace,  on  which  the 
salvation  of  the  souls  of  the  whole  people  largely  depends, 
carries  with  it  an  awful  responsibility  for  making  this 
grace  freely  accessible  to  all, — for  opening  conduits  in  all 
directions,  that  it  may  flow  forth  without  hin'drance  to 
every  soul  that  will  receive  it.  The  "Evangelical,"  w^ho 
holds  that  there  is  a  legitimate  way  to  heaven  through 
the  Presbyterian  or  Methodist  Church,  and  that  no  one  is 
bound  to  be  an  Episcopalian  unless  he  prefers  it,  might 
innocently  enough  insist  on  rigid  and  narrow  laws  within 
his  church  concerning  non-essential  matters, — that  there 
shall  be  one  set  of  prayers,  one  hymn-book,  one  cut  of 
gown,  one  code  of  dogma,  one  school  of  preachers — and 
that  those  who  do  not  like  these  may  seek  some  other 
fold.  But  the  High-Churchman,  who  believes  that  there 
is  no  true  fold  but  his  pin-fold,  can  not  act  thus  without 
condemning  himself  of  horrible  sin,  against  God  and 
against  humanity.  And  yet  it  is  thus  that  he  does  act — 
for  it  is  he  who  controls  the  policy  and  makes  the  laws  of 
his  Church.  He  calls  to  all  his  fellow-countrymen  to 
come  into  the  ark  of  safety,  but  stands  himself  in  the 
door-wa}^  to  see  to  it  that  none  get  in  except  on  condition 
of  conforming  to  his  own  notions  of  etiquette.  Of  all 
the  religious  bodies  that  claim  to  be  nothing  but  parts  of 
the  Church,  do  j^ou  know  of  any  which  pursues  a  policy 
so  rigidly  narrow  with  regard  to  mere  circumstantials  and 


122  IS  8CHISM  A  NECESSITY  ? 

non-essentials  as  that  body  which  claims  to  be  itself  the 
€hiirch  Catholic  for  the  United  States  ? 

It  would  be  wrong  to  infer  from  this  policy  that  the 
notions  with  which  it  is  associated  are  held  insincerely. 
But  it  can  not  be  unjust  to  infer  that  they  are  not  held,  in 
general,  with  any  great  depth  or  thoroughness  of  con- 
viction. 

And  after  all,  is  the  divisive,  schismatic  course  so  often 
pursued  in  the  name  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  really  a 
matter  of  principle  at  all  ?  Is  it  a  sort  of  thing  that  is 
amenable  to  serious  argument  ?  Is  there  not  reasonable 
ground  to  fear  that  the  course  of  action  in  that  Church  has 
been  controlled,  to  an  extent  of  which  its  best  men  have 
been  unconscious,  by  a  ver}^  different  class  of  people, 
whose  influence  tends  to  oppose  any  acts  of  accommoda- 
tion or  courtesy  towards  other  Christians,  however  wise 
or  right.  These  are  people  who  have  a  keen  relish  for 
schism  for  its  oi\''n  sake.  They  like  a  select  and  exclusive 
church,  and  are  willing  to  pay  smartl}^  for  it,  much  in  the 
same  way  in  which  they  like  a  first-class  car  on  a  German 
railroad — not  because  it  is  any  better  or  more  respectable 
than  the  second  class  car,  but  because  it  keeps  somebody 
else  out,  and  so  inspires  in  the  person  within  a  transient 
but  pleasing  sense  of  being  a  distinguished  individual.  It 
is  from  this  class  of  our  fellow-citizens  (they  abound  in 
Europe)  that  Ave  hear  the  frequent  longing  for  established 
class  distinctions  in  American  society — a  longing  not  un- 
mixed with  happy  and  assured  convictions  as  to  the  grade 
to  which,  in  that  case,  one  would  find  one's  self  assigned. 
To  such  aspiring  souls  the  distinctive  privilege  of  being  a 
fellow-communicant  with  my  lord  Tomnoddy,  and  of 
having  a  minute  but  indefeasible  personal  interest  in  the 


IS  SCHISM  A  NECESSITY?  123 

archbishop  of  Canterbury,  brings  tender  feelings  of 
gratitude  for  the  mercy  that  has  so  lifted  them  up,  at 
least  on  Sundays,  above  the  common  lot  of  their  fellow- 
republicans.  Is  there  not  reasonable  ground  to  fear  that 
there  are  enough  of  such  people  in  the  Episcopal  Cliurch 
to  have  insensibly  affected  its  policy,  and  in  some  instances 
to  have  effected  schisms  for  vanity's  sake,  or  for  schism's 
own  sake,  that  never  would  have  been  begun  for  the  sake 
of  any  serious  principle.  If  there  be  a  disproportionately 
large  element  ol  this  sort  in  the  Episcopal  Church,  I  am 
well  aware  that  the  shame  and  blame  of  it  must  be  borne 
in  part  by  other  denominations,  from  whose  fold  they 
have  in  many  cases  come  forth.  But  I  am  unwilling  to 
think  that  such  feelings  can  be  allowed  to  hold  any  lasting 
influence  upon  the  policy  of  a  considerable  and  respectable 
religious  organization.  I  will  not  believe,  except  under 
the  compulsion  of  facts,  that  the  Episcopal  Church  is 
hopelessly  committed  to  the  policy  of  fomenting  or 
maintaining  such  schisms  as  this  which  has  occasioned  the 
present  letter. 

If  some  solution  of  the  question  in  hand  could  be 
reached,  it  would  be  a  matter  of  great  satisfaction  and 
joy  to  the  multitude  of  Christians  of  every  name  in 
America.  It  would  confer  vast  additional  power  on  the 
growing  influence  of  American  Christianity  in  Europe. 
But  can  there  be  a  doubt  that  the  chief  gainer  would 
be  the  Episcopal  Church  itself  ?  In  one  view  it  would 
be  a  loser.  These  mingled  congregations  of  American 
travellers  and  sojourners  could  not  be  added  up  into  the 
statistics  of  sectarian  growth.  They  could  not  be  used 
as  proselyting  traps  to  catch  wayfarers.  They  would 
a^fford  no  opportunity  either  to  priest  or  to  people  of  the 


124  IS  8CHI.SM  A  NECESSITY? 

Episcopalian  sort  for  loftily  making-believe  that  there 
are  no  other  sorts  of  Christians  in  the  world.  There  are 
minds  doubtless  to  whom  these  will  be  fatal  objections. 
But  over  against  these  might  be  set  the  blessings,  both 
to  the  heart  and  to  the  intellect,  which  spring  from  "  the 
communion  of  saints  "  It  is  impossible  to  read  a  "Church"^ 
newspaper,  or  frequent  the  conversation  of  "Church" 
circles  in  America,  without  feeling  how  hungrily  that 
whole  region  of  religious  society  needs  to  be  liberalized 
by  some  actual  fellowship  with  the  Church  universal. 
I  do  not  doubt  that  you  feel  it  more  deeply  than  I  do. 
The  adjustment  of  terms  of  agreement  for  common  wor- 
ship among  Christian  travellers  abroad  would  be  a  safe  and 
practicable  beginning  of  such  fellowship  ;  and  from  this 
beginning  what  good  things  might  possibly  grow? 

Do  not  think  me  insincere  in  arguing  for  the  good  of 
the  Episcopal  Church.  Among  its  members  and  especially 
in  its  ministry  are  some  of  my  most  cherished  friends. 
For  my  brethren  and  my  companions'  sakes,  ma)^  peace 
be  within  its  Avails.  Because  of  the  house  of  the  Lord 
our  God,  I  will  seek  its  good. 

I  do  not  speak  as  representing  any  party.  For  some 
year^  it  lias  been  my  fixed  purpose  to  belong  to  no  sect, 
and  not  to  be  counted  on  either  side  in  a  schism,  I  come 
witli  my  family  to  reside  near  this  venerable  city,  and 
find  that  the  congregation  which  should  have  been  our 
spiritual  home  lias  been  desolated  by  this  wanton  schism. 
There  is  nothing  for  me  to  do  but  to  show,  with  every 
opportunity,  that  I  count  my  brethren  on  both  sides,  and 
that  my  paramount  love  and  allegiance  is  due  to  the 
whole  and  not  to  either  fragment;  to  pray  for  the  peace 
of  Jerusalem;  and  at  the   same  time  to   send  forth   this 


IS  SCHISM  A  NECESSITY  ?  125 

appeal  to  the  qnarter  in  which  I  am  sure  of  a  sympathetic 
hearings  and  from  Avhich  I  do  not  despair  of  an  infiaential 
response.  Perhaps  it  will  be  deemed  too  late  to  heal  this 
"hurt  of  Zion"'  Perhaps  the  mischiet'  xAW  have  to  go  on 
aggravating  itself  with  time,  and  be  perpetuated  and 
displayed  in  stone  as  a  monumental  scandal  of  American 
Christianity  before  the  annual  throng  of  European  travel- 
lers. Perhaps  there  will  have  to  be  a  race  and  scuffle  of 
sects  for  the  first  foothold  in  the  various  frequented  capi- 
tals of  Europe,  and  a  repetition  of  this  edifying  exhibition 
before  the  scorn  of  a  ^vider  audience.  But  I  do  not  believe 
you  will  suffer  it  to  be  by  your  fault;  and  I  know  it  will 
not  be  by  mine.    I  have  delivered  my  soul. 

«  Eraternall}^  and  truly  yours, 

Leonard  AVoolsev  Bacon. 

Petit  Saconiiex,  Geneva,  December,  10,  1873. 


--=s&vO>«sc  0--S^- 


126  HOW  TO  AVERT  A  SCHI8M. 


VI. 


HOW    TO    AVERT    A    SCHISM. 


Geneva,  October  1,  1875. 
My  lord  Archbishop  : 

I  can  not  better  show  my  appreciation  of  your  g^reat 
courtesy  in  inviting  me  to  write  to  you  concerning  the 
provision  for  English  worship  on  the  continent  of  Europe, 
than  by  using  the  greatest  simplicity  and  brevity  in  pre- 
senting my  views. 

The  substance  of  what  I  would  say  is  this:  1.  There 
is  impending  a  separation  between  English  and  American 
travellers  in  their  arrangements  for  worship.  2.   Such   a 

*  It  was  after  the  substance  of  these  pa>?es  had  been  presented  to  the  Arch- 
bishop ill  conversation,  tliat  liis  Grace  very  kintlly  proposed  that  the  case  should 
be  fully  stated  in  \vritin>?  and  sent  to  him,  to  be  broujjfht  to  tlic  attention  of  the 
Bishop  of  London.  On  receiving  it,  he  further  requested  that  copies  shonhl  be 
sent  to  certain  of  tlie  Eii;;lish  bishops,  whose  addresses  he  furnislied;  and  later 
it  was  mad:;  the  text  of  a  discussion  in  a  private  meetiuf?  of  the  bishops.  I  have  to 
acknowledge  the  cordial  expressions  of  interest  and  approval  which  it  drew 


HOW  TO  AVERT  A  WCllISM.  127 

separation  is  earnestly  to  be  deprecated.  3.  It  may  be 
averted  by  a  wise  and  generous  policy,  involving  no  com- 
promise of  principle,  on  the  part  of  those  representing  the 
interests  of  the  Church  of  England. 

1.  When  I  speak  of  an  impending  separation  between 
English  and  American  Christians  in  their  arrangements 
for  worship,  I  speak  partly  from  my  personal  knowledge 
of  the  feelings  and  plans  of  my  fellow-countrymen.  But 
there  is  no  need  of  personal  witness.  A  moment's  con- 
sideration of  the  case  is  enough.  It  is  generall}^  declared 
by  those  whose  business  connects  them  with  the  travelling- 
public,  that  the  English  on  the  Continent  are  now  out- 
numbered by  the  Americans ;  and  this  disproportion 
increases  annuall}^  Up  to  the  present  time,  except  in  a 
few  of  the  chief  centres  of  concourse,  American  Christians 
of  every  name  have  gracefully  accepted  and  generously 
requited  the  hospitality  of  the  English  Chapels,  rendering 
them,  in  some  oases  (I  speak  by  the  highest  authority) 
much  more  than  half  their  support.  But  it  is  in  itself 
unlikely  that  they  will  long  be  content  with  this  relation 
to  chapels  governed  and  served  exclusively  by  English- 
men, under  forms  rigorously,  nationally,  and  even 
politically  English,  throughout  which  (with  the  exception 
of  one  brief  interpolation)  one-half  the  congregation,  or 
more,  are  recognized  onl}^  as  spectators  of  the  worship  of 
others. 

2.  Such    a    division    between    English    and    American 


forth  in  private  letters  from  several  of  the  most  eminent  bishops  and  other 
dignitaries  of  the  Chnrch  of  Elngland.  Indeed  the  only  expressions  of  dissatis- 
faction I  have  heard  from  any  (jnarter,  have  been  from  some  of  my  friends  in  the 
American  Protestant  Episcopal  Cliurch,  who  have  shown  a  certain  coy  and 
sraee'.ul  reluctance  to  accept  tlie  praise  which  it  so  justly  awards  to  their  enter- 
prisiu}^  and  industrious  denomination. 


128  now  TO  AVERT  A  SCHISM. 

travellers  would  be  an  evil  that  ought  to  be  prevented. 
The  first  evil  consequence  of  it  would  be  felt  in  the 
embarrassment  of  many  of  the  existing  English  chapels. 
It  was  publicly  declared,  not  long  ago,  by  the  rector  of 
the  English  church  in  Geneva,  that  before  the  organization 
of  the  church  of  which  I  am  in  charge,  three-fourths  of 
the  income  of  the  English  church  had  been  derived  from 
American  worshippers.  One  of  the  secretaries  of  the 
Colonial  and  Continental  Church  Society  has  expressed 
the  conviction  tliat  "  the  withdrawal  of  American  support 
would  sadly  endanger  the  eiHciency  of  man}^  of  their 
chaplaincies.'*  But  this  inconvenience,  although  no 
trifling  matter,  is  a  far  less  serious  one  than  the  scandals 
almost  inevitably  incident  to  such  a  separation — the 
emulations,  the  irritations  and  the  visible  divisions, 
countervailing,  in  most  observers,  all  proofs  of  a  spiritual 
and  real  unity.  And  a  greater  evil  still  would  be  the  loss 
of  a  sacred  bond  of  fellowship  between  the  kindred  nations 
— a  bond  which  ever}^  friend  of  the  kingdom  of  God  on 
earth  must  desire  to  see  strengthened  rather  than 
abolished. 

3.  The  impending  separation  may  be  averted  by  a  wise 
policy  on  the  part  of  those  charged  with  the  interests  of 
the  Church  of  England  on  this  continent.  The  movement 
which  might  already  have  been  in  progress  for  the  organ- 
ization of  a  system  of  American  chapels  in  Europe,  has 
been  postponed  by  the  present  financial  disturbances.  It 
Avill  probably  be  further  postponed  by  the  festivities  of 
the  c(.ming  year  in  the  United  States.  I  am  certain  that 
it  will  be  postponed  indefinitely,  if,  on  the  part  of  the 
Church  of  En^-land  there  shall  meanwhile  be  made  some 
generous    provision   for  the  common  "  worship   of   mixed 


HOW  TO  AVERT  A  SCHISM.  129 

congTegations,  made  up  out  of  two  nations  and  of  many 
different  communions.  To  such  provision  (if  I  rightly 
understand  the  bearing  of  the  legal  opinion  lately  rend- 
ered in  the  case  submitted  by  the  Bishop  of  London  and 
Mr.  Fremantle)  there  is  no  legal  hindrance.  Neither,  as 
will  shortly  appear,  can  there  be  any  theological  objection 
to  it,  from  any  quarter.  Nor  yet,  on  the  other  hand, 
would  any  moral  obstruction  stand  in  the  way  of  its  being 
cordiall}^  accepted  by  American  Christians,  whose  kindly 
feeling  of  affection  and  deference  towards  the  Church  of 
England,  which  is,  in  so  just  a  sense,  "the  mother  of  us 
all  "  has  survived  many  generations  of  separation,  and 
many  causes  of  alienation.  There  is  no  religious  organi- 
zation in  America  to  which  American  Christians  generally 
would  be  so  well  content  to  commit  their  interests  in  such 
arrangements,  as  to  their  brethren  of  the  English  Church, 
acting  with  a  generous  regard  for  the  whole  English- 
speaking  community  on  this  Continent. 

If,  noAV,  it  is  asked  what  changes  would  be  needed  in 
the  existing  arraugements  for  English  worship  on  the 
Continent,  I  answer,  in  general:  Whatever  is  necessary 
to  fit  them  to  the  obvious  wants  of  congregations  of  double 
nationality  and  diverse  ecclesiastical  relations.  The  need- 
ful changes  might,  perhaps,  all  be  included  under  these 
two  heads,  (1)  Order  of  worship;  (2)  Spirit  of  adminis- 
tration. 

(1)  Beside  certain  obvious  modifications,  as  in  the 
forms  of  prayer  for  rulers,  the  necessary  liturgic  changes 
would  include  some  accommodations  in  the  interest  of 
brevity  and  the  avoidance  of  repetition,  such  as  are  reck- 
oned desirable,  though  unattainable,  in  England  itself,  but 
would  be  indispensable  elsewhere. 


130  HOW  TO  AVERT  A  SCHISM. 

(2)  The  Spirit  of  the  Administration  of  these  Chapels 
should  be  that  of  the  largest  Christian  fellowship.. 
Especially  it  should  make  cordial  and  practical  recog- 
nition of  those  Ordines  Predicatonim  which  are  extant 
and  active  throughout  all  English-speaking  Christendom^ 
making  no  claim  to  sacerdotal  functions,  but  universally 
approved  as  "apt  to  teach''  and  as  qualified  to  lead  their 
fellow  Christians  in  the  ordinary  offices  of  common  prayer 
and  praise. 

It  will  be  objected  that  I  stop  here,  just  where  the 
difficulties  of  the  case  begin.  That  is  just  where  I  meant 
to  stop.  "  Whereto,  then,  we  have  already  attained,  let 
us  walk  by  the  same  rule,  let  us  mind  the  same  thing." 

When  we  come  to  the  matter  of  the  administration  of 
the  sacraments,  there  are  serious  divergences.  The  great 
body  of  American  Christians  would  have  grave  objection 
to  the  forms  used  in  the  administration  of  baptism  in  the 
Church  of  England ;  and  an  earnest  and  important  party 
in  the  English  Church  would  object  not  less  strenuously 
to  any  administration  whatever  of  the  Lord's  Supper  by 
the  great  multitude  of  the  American  Clergy.  These  differ- 
ences are  not  to  be  trifled  with,  for  they  are  matters  of 
conscience.  But  I  fail  to  find  in  them  any  reason  why^ 
lip  to  the  point  of  divergence,  the  companies  of  travellers 
of  diff'erent  nations  but  of  the  same  language  and  the  same 
Christian  faith  should  separate  from  each  other  in  their 
acts  of  ordinary  and  common  worship. 

One  mistake  it  seems  necessary  to  guard  against — not 
I  am  aware,  in  the  mind  of  your  Grrace,  but  in  less  informed 
minds — the  mistake  of  supposing  that  the  desired  relations 
with  the  American  Church  can  be  eff'ected  by  means  of 
a  league  formed  with  one  of  the  parties  qr  sects  of  American 


HOW  TO  AVERT  A  SCHISM.  131 

Christians,  to  the  exclusion  of  the  general  commonwealth 
of  believers  in  that  land.  Natnrally  enough,  the  American 
relations  of  the  English  clergy  have  been  chiefly  with 
members  and  ministers  of  the  American  Protestant 
Episcopal  church;  insomuch  that  some  Englishmen  have 
certainly  got  the  impression  that,  aside  from  the  fact  of 
State  establishment,  this  highly  respectable  body  stands 
in  some  such  relation  to  the  American  people  as  the 
English  church  does  to  the  English  people — a  mistake 
that  would  wofully  mislead  in  dealing  with  the  question. 
The  American  Episcopal  Church  has  eminent  claims  to 
respect.  It  bears  a  striking  resemblance  to  the  very  best 
of  the  dissenting  sects  of  England — a  resemblance  of 
which  it  may  be  justly  proud.  No  one  can  duly  honor 
its  prosperity  and  increase  who  does  not  know  the  dis- 
advantages under  which  they  have  been  won.  The  remark 
made  some  thirty  years  ago  by  the  Westminster  Review 
holds  true  to  this  day — that  no  standard  work  in  American 
literature  has  ever  come  from  the  pen  of  an  Episcopalian 
minister.  The  splendid  contributions  of  the  American 
Church  to  the  sum  of  theological  science  in  its  every 
department  owe  nothing  of  importance  to  Episcopalian 
scholars.  I  am  told  by  an  eminent  dignitary  of  the 
English  Church  that,  when  the  commission  on  Bible 
Revision  was  organizing  a  corresponding-  Board  of  Ameri- 
can scholars,  there  was  an  embarrassing  difficulty  in 
finding  competent  men  in  the  Episcopal  Church  to  give 
that  body  a  proportionate  representation.  And  yet,  not- 
withstanding this  inferiority  and  the  inferiority  of 
numbers,  the  American  Episcopalians,  by  dint  of  vigorous 
self-assertion  (which  is  not  in  the  least  inconsistent  with 
a    sincere    inward   humility)    and    by    dint    of  faithful, 


132  HOW  TO  AVERT  A  SCHISM. 

conscientious  pushing  and  proselj^ting,  aided  in  no  slight 
degree  by  the  prestige  of  their  relation  to  your  venerable 
body,  have  raised  themselves  to  a  position  among  the 
very  foremost  in  the  second  rank  of  the  Christian  sects  of 
America.  It  is  with  no  reluctance,  but  with  unaffected 
pleasure,  that  I  bear  this  testimony  in  their  praise.  With 
the  exception  of  the  Wesleyans  and  the  Eoman  Catholics, 
I  doubt  whether  any  body  of  British  dissenters  can  show 
a  better  record  of  successful  propagandism  than  the 
American  Episcopalians.  But  we  should  not  allow  our 
admiration  to  blind  us  to  the  facts  in  the  case.  It  is  right 
to  remember  that  a  proposal  on  the  part  of  the  English 
Church  to  meet  the  wants  of  Americans  in  general  by  an 
exclusive  arrangement  with  one  of  the  minor  sects  in 
America,  however  respectable,  would  not  be,  in  the  nature 
of  things,  a  hopeful  one.  The  authority  or  influence  of 
"  the  mother  of  us  all  "  can  not  be  delegated  to  one  of  the 
smaller  children  with  any  reasonable  prospect  of  advant- 
age to  the  family  peace.  The  deference  of  American 
Christians  toward  the  old  Church  of  England  is  sincere 
and  lasting,  and  with  a  wise  and  generous  policy  it  may 
be  turned  to  a  noble  use  in  the  interest  of  Christian 
fellowship  all  over  the  world.  Or  it  may  be  put  to  a  very 
poor  and  unworthy  use  in  abetting  the  pretensions  of  one 
party  of  American  Christians  against  all  the  rest,  and  so 
perish  in  the  using. 

I  have  written  this  whole  letter  on  the  presumption 
that,  under  the  late  opinion  of  eminent  counsel,  the  English 
clergy,  of  all  degrees,  are  free,  in  their  relation  to  the 
work  of  the  gospel  in  foreign  parts,  from  the  rig(Trou8 
legal  restrictions  that  bind  them  within  the  realm.  I  trust 
that  I  am  not  mistaken.     Certainly  I   cannot  have  mis- 


HOW  TO  AVERT  A  SCHISM.  133 

understood  the  generous  spirit  of  your  Grace,  in  listening 
so  earnestly  to  the  statement  of  this  subject  from  me,  a 
stranger,  and  in  inviting  this  written  communication. 
I  leave  the  matter  confidently  and  very  gratefully  in  your 
hands. 

I  remain,  in  the  ministry  of  the  gospel,  your  lordship's 
obedient  servant, 

Leonard  Woolsey  Bacon, 

American  Pastor,  Greneva. 

To  his  Grace, 
The  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  Lambeth. 


->e^^:>*cC^^ 


134       HOW  THE  RE  v.. DR.  STONE  BETTERED  HIS  SITUATION. 


YII. 


HOW   THE    REV.  DR.   STONE    BETTERED 
HIS    SITUATION.* 


AN  EXAMINATION  OF  THE  ASSURANCE  OF  SALVATION, 
AND  THE  CERTAINTY  OF  BELIEF,  TO  WHICH  WE  ARE 
AFFECTIONATELY  INVITED  BY   HIS   HOLINESS    THE  POPE. 


Note. — This  Article,  first  published  in  the  Nao  Enqlander  Quarterly,  of 
July,  1870,  was  reissued  as  a  pamphlet  by  the  "American  and  Foreign  Christian 
Union  "  with  the  following 


For  many  generations  it  has  been  a  standing  accusation  against 
the  Roman  Catholic  Church  that  it  has  a  tendency  to  demoralize 
society  and  the  individual^  by  issuing  certificates,  written  or  oral, 
of  the  forgiveness  of  sins,  and  of  the  remission  of  the  penalties  of 
them,  both  in  this  world  and  the  world  to  come,  on  the  performance 
of  rites,  or  the  payment  of  money,  or  on  other  conditions  different 
from  those  required  in  the  gospel — repentance  and  faith. 

In  answer  to  this  accusation,  the  apologists  of  the  Roman 
Church  have  constantly  averred,  sometimes  with  a  great  show  of 

*  The  Invitation  Heeded :  Reasons  for  a  Return  to  Catholic  Unity.  By 
James  Kent  Stone,  late  President  of  Kcnyon  College,  (xambier  ;  and  of  Hobavt 
College,  Geneva,  New  York;  and  S.  T.  D.  Catholic  Publication  Society.  1870. 
12mo.  pp.  341. 


HOW  THE  REV.  DR.  STONE  BETTERED  HIS  SITUATION.       135 

indif^nation,  thaf  these  certi6caies  of  forgiveness  of  sin  and  remis- 
sion of  ponalty  and  assurance  of  salvation  do  not  mean,  and  are 
well  understood  not  to  mean,  what  their  terms  imjjort ; — that  the 
Tinderstanding  is  distinct  and  explicit  between  the  Church  and  its 
devotees,  that. when  the  priest  says,  "  I  absolve  thee,"  he  does  not 
in  fact  absolve  at  all,  and  that  the  forgiveness  of  the  "  penitent," 
to  whom  these  words  have  been  pronounced  in  the  confessional,  is 
just  as  entirely  contingent  on  his  true  repentance,  as  the  forgiveness 
of  any  sinner  outside  of  the  Church  can  bo ;  that  the  promise  given 
in  an  "  indulgence  "  of  the  remission  of  purgatorial  torment, 
notwithstanding  it  may  be  absolute  in  form,  is  really  subject  to 
similar  conditions ;  and  that  the  grace  to  be  conferretl,  opere 
operato,  by  the  sacraments  generally,  is  in  like  manner  dependent 
on  such  and  so  many  contingencies,  as  to  preclude  the  danger  that 
any  person  will  be  tempted  into  sin  by  assurance  of  safety  ;  that  if 
at  any  time  impenitent  persons  have  been  induced  by  the  agents  of 
the  Church  to  purchase  indulgences  promising  to  remit  the  penalties 
of  their  sins,  these  promises,  given  by  her  agents  in  her  name,  are 
indignantly  disavowed  and  repudiated  by  the  Church— although 
there  is  no  recorded  instance  of  the  money  being  refunded. 

On  the  other  hand,  however,  an  opposite  style  of  address  is 
sometimes  taken  up  by  this  Church  and  its  advocates, — a  style  of 
address  calculated  to  assure  those  who  have  thought  themselves 
shut  up  to  the  gospel  promises  of  forgiveness  on  condition  of 
repentance  and  faith — that  there  is  something  a  great  deal  more 
certain  and  assured  to  be  had  in  the  Church  of  Rome  ; — that  her 
clergy  have  a  peculiar  power  of  binding  and  loosing,  which  other 
clergymen  do  not  possess  ; — that  there  is  a  gracious  virtue  in  her 
sacraments,  which  cannot  be  found  in  others  ; — that  her  pope, 
especially,  has  control  over  the  keys  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 
There  is  much  in  the  tone  of  her  teachings,  in  the  language  of  her 
sacraments,  and  in  the  terms  of  her  indulgences  and  other  docu- 
ments that  corresponds  with  these  pretensions.  They  are  summed 
up  in  the  persuasive  language  of  Pope  Pius  IX.,  in  his  letter  of 
September  13th,  1868,  addressed  to  Protestant  Christians,  in 
which  he  implores  them  to  "  rescue  themselves  from  a  state  in 
which  they  cannot  be  assured  of  their  own  salvation,"  and  come 
into  his  fold,  where,  as  he  implies,  they  can  be  assured  of  it. 


136       HOW  THE  REV.  DK.  STONE  BETTERED  HIS  SITUATION, 

These  two  "  Phases  of  Catholicity,"  contradictory  as  they  are, 
do,  nevertheless,  belong  to  the  same  system.  And  many  a  luckless 
polemic,  reasoning  from  one  set  of  the  utterances  of  the  Church  of 
Rome,  has  been  suddenly  overwhelmed  with  the  Virtuous  Indigna- 
tion and  Injured  Innocence  with  which  his  antagonists  have 
confronted  him  with  the  other  set  of  utterances,  crying  out  upon 
him,  "  Is  IT  Honest  to  say  thus  and  so,  when  here  are  passages  in 
our  books  or  facts  in  our  American  practice  which  say  just  the 
contrary?" 

If  the  Church  of  Rome  could  be  driven  up  to  choose  between  its- 
two  contradictory  doctrines,  the  remaining  controversy  would  be 
a  short  one.  But  this  is  hopeless.  It  clings  inexpugnably  to  the 
fence,  ready  to  drop  on  either  side,  for  the  time,  as  the  exigency  of 
controversy  may  require.  It  moves  to  and  fro  in  its  double-corner 
on  the  checker-board,  and  challenges  defeat. 

The  following  pages  discuss  the  pretensions  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church  in  that  aspect  in  which  they  have  been  less 
frequently  and  thoroughly  canvassed.  The  representations  herein 
contained  of  the  teaching  of  that  Church  have  been  made  with 
scrupulous  care  from  the  most  trustworthy  sources,  to  which 
copious  references  are  given  in  the  margin.  But  I  am  not  so 
sanguine  as  to  suppose  that  I  shall  be  credited  by  the  apologists  of 
Romanism,  even  with  honesty  and  good  faith.  I  have  no  reason 
to  doubt  that  the  old  trick  will  be  played  again — that  books 
universally  allowed  and  approved  by  the  authorities  of  that  de- 
nomination will  be  repudiated  as  of  no  authority, — that  contrary 
teachings  will  be  cited  from  other  Roman  Catholic  authors, — (it  is 
easy  to  find  such  on  each  side  of  almost  any  important  question) — 
and  that  these  most  evasive  and  slippery  antagonists  will  wind  up 
their  reply  with  shrieks  of  Is  it  Honest  ? 

Before  concludin'g  this  Preface,  I  desire  to  record  one  more 
disclaimer  concerning  the  gentleman  whose  book  suggested  this 
discussion,  and  whose  theological  position  I  have  shown  to  bo 
absurd.  I  have  no  knowledge  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Stone,  except  by  his 
book,  and  by  the  highly  honorable  family  antecedents  which  his 
name  suggests.  But  it  is  my  strong  impression  that,  whatever 
may  be  said  of  his  theological  position,  there  is  nothing  else  about 
him  that  is  not  eminently  worthy  of  respect.;  and  that  by  virtue 


HOW  THE  REV.  DR.  8T0NE  BETTERED  HIS  SITUATION.       137 

both  of  his  Christian  sincerity  and  of  his  talents  and  scholarship^ 
he  is  a  convert  of  whom  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  in  America 
may  most  reasonably  be  proud. 


This  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  specimens  of  a  very- 
interesting  class  of  books — those  written  by  converts  to 
or  from  Romanism  in  vindication  of  their  change  of  views ; 
and  when  that  good  day  comes  when  we  all  have  time 
for  every  thing,  we  shall  count  it  well  worth  while  to 
criticize  it  in  detail.  At  present,  we  undertake  no  more 
than  rapidly  to  state  the  upshot  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Stone's 
religious  change,  as  it  appears  to  us,  and  to  foot  up  the 
balance  of  spiritual  advantage  which  he  seems  to  have 
gained  by  it. 

A  year  ago  last  October,  the  Rev.  James  Kent  Stone, 
D.D.,  a  minister  of  excellent  standing  in  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church,  received,  in  common  with  the  rest  of 
us,  a  copy  of  a  letter  from  the  pope  of  Rome,  in  which  he 
was  affectionately  invited  to  "  rescue  himself  from  a  state 
in  which  he  could  not  be  assured  of  his  own  salvation," 
by  becoming  a  member  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church, — 
which  teaches,  by  the  way,  that  as  soon  as  a  man  becomes 
"  assured  of  his  own  salvation"  it  is  a  dead  certainty  that 
he  will  be  damned.^ 

Accordingly,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Stone,  deeply  conscious  how 
uncertain  and  perilous  is  the  position  of  those  Avho  merely 
commit  themselves  in  well  doing,  with  simplicity  and 
sincerity,  to  the  keeping  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  according 
to  his  promises,   "hastens  to   rescue    himself    from    that 

1.  Act.  Cone.  Trid.,  Scss.  VI.,  Cap.  IX.,  XII.,  XIII. 


138       HOW  THE  REV.  DR.  STONE  BETTERED  HIS  SITUATION. 

state,  in  which  he  cannot  be  assured  of  his  own  salvation," 
and  betters  himself  wonderfully,  as  follows: 

I.  His  first  step  is  to  make  sure  of  his  regeneration 
and  entrance  into  the  true  church  by  the  door  of  the  church, 
which  is,  according  to  his  new  teachers,  not  Christ,  but 
baptism.^  To  be  sure  he  has  once  been  baptized,  and  the 
Council  of  Trent  warns  him  not  to  dare  affirm  that  baptism 
administered  by  a  heretic  (like  his  good  old  father)  is  not 
true  baptism.-  But  as  all  his  everlasting  interests  are  now 
pending  on  a  question  which  no  mortal  can  answer,  to  wit, 
whether  at  the  time  of  the  baptism  of  little  James,  being 
then  of  tender  age,  the  interior  intention  of  old  Doctor 
Stone  corresponded  with  a  certain  doubtful  and  variously 
interpreted  requirement  of  the  Council  of  Trent — that  he 
should  "  intend  to  do  what  the  church  does"^ — it  is  well 
to  make  his  "  assurance  of  salvation  "  doubl}^  sure,  by 
a  "  hypothetical  baptism"  from  the  hands  of  a  Roman 
Catholic  priest,  with  some  accompaniments  which  although 
"  not  of  absolute  necessity  to  his  salvation,  are  of  great 
importance  " — such  as  a  little  salt  in  his  mouth  to  excite 
"  a  relish  fur  good  works,"  a  little  of  the  priest's  spittle 
smeared  upon  his  ears  and  nostrils  to  "  open  him  into  an 
odor  of  sweetness,"  a  little  of  the  essential  "  oil  of 
catechumens"  on  his  breast  and  between  his  shoulders, 
and  of  the  "  oil  of  chrism"  on  the  crown  of  his  head,  with 
a  "  white  garment ''  on,  outside  of  his  coat  and  pantaloons, 
and  a  lighted  candle  in  his  hand  in  the  daytime.*  If  there 
is  a  way  of  meriting  heaven  by  a  process  of  mortification, 
we  have  little  doubt  that  it  must  be    for    a   respectable 

1.  Concil.  Florent.,  '■'vitae  spiritualis  jamca." 

2.  Concil.  Trid.,  Canon  4,  Dc  Bapt. 

3.  Cone.  Trid.,  Soss.  VII.,  Can.  ll. 

4.  See  the  Roman  Catechism. 


HOW  THE  REV.  DK.  STONE  BETTERED  HIS  SITL'ATIOX.        139 

middle-aged  gentleman  who  has  learned, by  being  president 
of  two  colleges,  the  importance  of  preserving  his  personal 
tlignity,  to  be  operated  upon  in  just  this  way.  Nothing, 
we  should  imagine,  could  add  to  the  poignancy  of  his 
distress,  and  consequent  merit,  unless  it  should  be  to  have 
the  members  of  the  Sophomore  class  present  while  he  was 
having  his  nose  "  opened  into  the  odor  of  sweetness."' 

Doubtless  the  object  to  be  gained  is  amply  worth  the 
sacrifice,  ^ince  it  is  to  "  rescue  oneself  from  that  state  in 
which  he  cannot  be  assured  of  his  own  salvation,"  and 
avoid  that  "eternal  misery  and  everlasting  destruction," 
which,  according  to  the  authoritative  catechism  of  the 
Homan  Catholic  church  is  the  alternative  of  valid  baptism. 
This  second  ceremony,  be  it  remembered,  is  only  a  hypo- 
thetical one,  calculated  to  hit  him  if  he  is  unbaptized,  but, 
in  case  it  should  appear  in  the  judgment  of  the  last  day 
that  old  Dr.  Stone  had  intended  to  "  do  what  the  church 
does  (it  being,  at  present,  not  infallibly  settled  what  such 
an  intention  is)  then  this  latter  and  merely  hypothetical 
ceremonial  is  to  be  held  to  have  been  no  baptism  at  all,  but 
null  and  void  to  all  intents  and  purposes  whatsoever.  But 
considering  that  the  issues  of  eternity  are  pending  on  the 
insoluble  question  as  to  the  validity  of  the  first  baptism, 
considering  that  a  defect  here  can  never  be  supplied  to  all 
eternity,  whether  by  years  of  fidelity  in  other  sacraments, 
or  by  eeons  of  torture  in  purgatorial  fire,  since  it  is  only 
by  baptism  that  "the  right  of  partaking  of  the  other  sacra- 
ments is  acquired,"^  it  is  nothing  more  than  common 
prudence  to  adopt  a  course  that  diminishes  by  at  least  one- 
half  the  chances  of  a  fatal  defect.  It  must  be  admitted 
that   there  still  remains  a  possibility   of  the  defect    of 

1.  Dens,  De  Bapt.  Tractat. 


140       HOW  THE  KKV.  DR.  STONE  HETTEUED  Ills  SlTrATlON. 

intentiouinthe  second  act  as  well  as  in  the  first;  such  things 
having  been  known  in  ecclesiastical  history  as  the  purposed 
'Svithholding  of  the  intention  "'  in  multitudes  of  sacramen- 
tal acts  on  the  part  of  an  nnlaithful  priest.  Still,  it  may 
be  held,  perhaps,  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Stone,  that  the  hypothe- 
tical transaction  makes  the  matter  nearly  enough  certain 
for  all  his  practical  purposes  (as  the  old  arithmetics  used 
to  say)  although  it  falls  a  good  deal  short  of  that  "  assur- 
ance of  his  own  salvation"  to  which  he  was  invited  in  the 
pope's  letter.^ 

But  presuming  that  between  his  two  baptisms  Dr.  Stone 
is  validly  entered  into  the  lloman  Catholic  Church,  may 
we  not  now  congratulate  him  on  the  (hypothetical)  assur- 
ance of  his  own  salvation  ?  Not  quite  yet.  To  be  sure^ 
he  has  received  the  remission  of  all  his  j^ins,  up  to  that 
time,  both  original  an<l  actual,  and  the  remission  of  the 
punishment  of  them,  both  temporal  and  eternal,  and  has 
been   (as  the    Holy  Father  promised  in  his  1  etter  of  a  year 

^  1.  It  is  very  pleasant,  from  time  to  time,  as  one  fravorscs  the  dreary  waste  of 
"commamlmentseoiUainetl  iiiordinauees'  whieh  make  up  the  Romish  system, 
to  eome  upon  some  atlmission  or  proviso  whieh  fairly  interpreted  nullities  all  the 
rest.  The  Council  of  Trent,  for  instance,  declares  that  "without  the  wa  shin- 
of  re}?eueralion(meanin{.- baptism)  or  the  deshr  of  if,  there  can  be  no  jnstitica" 
tion,"aml  teaches  that  an  unbeliever  brouf«ht  to  embrace  Christianity,  not  bavin-.- 
the  opportunity  of  baptism  but  yet  desiriuf.-  to  receive  it,  is  "  baptized  in  desire  ' 
—the  desire  supplyin-  the  place  of  the  actual  sacrament.  [See  ConciL  Trident 
Sess.  Vl.,Can.-l;Sess.  VII.,  Can.  l,  Also  Bishop's  Hay's  "Sincere  Christian," 
Vol.  I.,  Chap.  XX].  It  ij  obvious  enouyli  tliat  tlie.just  interpretation  and  appli- 
cation of  these  very  Christian  teachin-s  would  blow  the  "doctrine  of  intention" 
ami  of  the  "^  opus  operatum  "  to  pieces.  But  the  thorou-h-oin- Romanizers 
scorn  to  take  advanta-e  of  such  weak  concessions.  Cardinal  I'allavicini  say* 
decidedly,  "  there  is  nothin-  repu-nant  in  tlie  idea  that  no  person  in  particular, 
after  all  possible  reseaiches,  can  eome  to  be  perfectly  sure  of  his  baptisu).  No- 
body eaa  complain  tliat  be  surters  this  evil  without  bavin-  deserve.l  it.  God,  by 
aj-oodness  purely  arbitrary,  delivers  the  one  without  deliverintf  the  other." 
[Quoted  in  Bun-ener's  History  of  the  Council  of  Trent,  p.  LWJ.  This  line  <.f 
ar}-ument  will  be  ofno  small  comfort  to  Dr.  Stone  in  his  disappointment  about 
the  "assurauce  of  his  own  salvation.  " 


HOW  THE  REV.  IJR.  STONE  BETTERED  HI8  .SITUATION.       141 

ago  last  September)  "  enriched  with  unexhausted  trea- 
sures" of  divine  grace.  ^  But  it  is  damnable  heresy  not  to 
acknowledge  that  "he  may  lose  the  grace,"  or  to  hold 
"that  it  is  possible  for  him  to  avoid  all  sins — unless  ])y 
special  privilege  from  (iod,  such  as  trie  church  holds  to 
have  l^een  granted  to  the  blessed  Virgin."^  (t race  may 
fjome  and  go,  but  orthodoxy  agrees  with  experience  in 
teaching  that  "  concupiscence  which  is  the  fuel  of  sin 
remains.""^  It  is  damnable,  therefore,  to  afiirm  that  the 
rest  of  the  seven  sacraments  are  not  necessary  to  Dr. 
>St(me's  salvation;*  and  especially  to  affirm  that  "it  is 
possible  for  him  if  he  shall  fall"  [as  he  inevitably  will] 
•'after  baptism,  to  recover  his  lost  righteousness  without 
the  sacrament  of  penance,"'' which  is  "rightly  called  a 
second  2'danlt  after  sJujnureck ;'^ ''  Sind  equally  damnable  to 
"  deny  that  sacramental  confession  is  necessary  to  salva- 
tion;"" or  to  "affirm  that  in  order  to  receive  remission  of 
sins  in  the  sacrament  of  penance  it  is  not  necessary,  jure 
divinOj  for  him  to  confess  all  and  every  mortal  sin  which 
occurs  to  his  memory  after  due  and  diligent  prenieditation 
— even  his  secret  sins."^ 

We  find,  therefore,  that  our  estimable  friend  is  very, 
very  far  indeed,  up  to  this  point,  from  having  got  what  he 
went  for.  He  thought  he  was  stepping  upon  something 
solid,  but  finds  himself  all  at  once  in  great  waters, 
and  making  a  clutch  at  the  "  second  plank  after  shipwreck." 

1.  Catech.  Roman.,  1.52-10'.). 

2.  Concil.  Trident.,  Scss.  vi.,  Can.  22. 

3.  Catech.  Roman.,  ubi  supra 

4.  Concil  'iViV/er't.,  Se88.  vii.,  Cau.  4. 

5.  Ibid.,  Se88.  vi-,  Can.  29.  De  Justif. 

6.  Ibid.,  8es8.  xiv,,  Can.  2. 

7.  Ibid.,  Sess.  xiv.,  Can.  G. 

8.  Ibid.,  S(iS8,  xiv.,  Can.  7. 


142       HOW  THE  REV.  DR.  STONE  BETTERED  HIS  SITUATION. 

A  certain  embarrassment  attends  him  at  his  first 
approach  to  the  sacrament  of  penance.  He  has  a  distinct 
understanding  with  the  church  that  all  sins  incurred  before 
baptism,  both  original  sin  and  actual  sins,  and  all  the 
punishment  of  them,  both  eternal  punishment  in  hell,  and 
temporal  punishments  in  this  world  or  in  purgatory,  are 
absolutely  and  entirely  remitted  in  that  sacrament,  and 
that  no  confession  or  penance  is  due  on  their  account.^ 

But  now  the  painful  question  arises,  when  was  he 
baptized  ?  He  may  well  hope  that  the  transaction  of  his 
good  old  heretic  of  a  father  and  of  his  sponsors  in  baptism, 
when  they  called  him  M.  or  N.,  was  only  an  idle 
ceremony  ;  for  in  that  case  the  long  score  of  his  acts  and 
deeds  of  heresy  and  schism  all  his  life  through  is  wiped 
out  by  the  hypothetical  baptism,  and  he  may  begin  his 
confessions  from  a  very  recent  date.  But  if  his  father  had 
the  right  sort  of  intention,  then  this  hypothetical  baptism 
is  no  baptism  at  all,  and  he  is  to  begin  at  the  beginning 
with  his  penances.  Inasmuch  as  neither  man  nor  angel 
can  settle  the  question,  he  will  act  wisely  to  follow  the 
safe  example  of  St.  Augustine,  and  begin  his  confessions 
with  owning  up  frankly  to  the  indiscretions  (to  use  the 
mildest  term)  with  which,  in  early  infancy,  he  aggravated 
the  temper  of  his  nurse,  and  peradventure  disturbed  the 
serenity  of  his  reverend  parent.  Doubtless  it  will  make 
a  long  story,  but  vthat  is  that,  when  one  is  seeking  for 
the  "  assurance  of  his  own  salvation  ?" — and  0  the  joy — 
the  calm,  serene  peace  when  he  shall  hear  at  last  from 
the  lips  of  the  duly  accredited  representative  of  the  church 
the  operative  sacramental  words,  Ego  ahsolvo  te,  and  knoiVy 
at  last,   after  all   these  forty   or  fifty  years   of  painful 

1.  C'atecli.  Roman,,  nbi  svx>ra. 


HOW  THE  REV.  DR-  STONE  BETTERED  HIS  SITUATION.       143 

uncertainty,  that  at  least  for  this  little  moment,  he  is  in  a 
state  of  forgiveness  and  peace  with  God  ! 

But  softly  !  We  are  on  the  very  verge,  before  we  think 
of  it,  of  repeating  that  wicked  calumny  upon  the  Roman 
Catholic  church  against  which  Father  Hecker  so 
indignantly  protests,  saying: 

"Is  IT  Honest  to  persist  in  saying  that  CatJwlics  believe  their 
sins  are  forgiven,  merely  by  the  confession  of  them  to  the  priest^ 
ivithout  a  true  sorroiv  for  tfiem,  or  a  true  purpose  to  quit  them — 
when  eveiy  child  finds  the  contrary  distinctly  and  clearly  stated  in 
the  catechism,  which  he  is  obliged  to  learn  before  he  is  admitted 
to  the  sacraments?"* 

Of  course  it  is  not  honest  !  We  have  not  examined  the 
catechism  in  question,  for  the  reason  that  if  we  were  to 
quote  it  against  the  church  of  Rome  we  should  be  told  that 
it  was  not  authoritative,  and  be  scornfully  snubbed  for 
pretending  to  refer  to  what  was  not  one  of  their  standards 
— but  of  course  it  is  conclusive  against  our  honesty  when 
they  quote  it.  To  be  sure,  the  priest  says  in  so  many 
words,  "  I  absolve  thee  from  thy  sins,  in  the  name  of  the 
Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Grhost ;  "  and 
Bishop  Hay,  in  a  volume  commended  by  the  proper 
authorities  to  the  confidence  of  the  faithful,  declares  that 
"  JesQS  Christ  has  passed  his  sacred  word  that  when  they 
[the  priests]  forgive  a  penitent's  sins  by  pronouncing  the 
sentence  of  absolution  upon  him,  they  are  actually  for- 
given." ^  But  then  nothing  is  better  established  than  that 
these  authorized  books  oi  religious  instruction  may  be 
repudiated  at  discretion  as  of  no  authority  at  all,  when- 
ever the  exigency  requires  it.     Then  the  Catechism  of  the 


1.  Tract  of  tha  Catholic  Publication  Society. 

2.  Sincere  Christian,  Vol.  II.,  p.  69. 


144       HOW  THE  KEV.  DR.  STONE  BE  TTEllED  HIS  SITUATION. 

Council  of  Trent  says  in  terms,  "  Our  sins  are  forgiven  by 
the  absolution  of  the  priest  ;*' ^  "  the  absolution  of  the 
priest,  which  is  expressed  in  words,  seals  the  remission  of 
sins,  frJiicli  it  acconiplislies  in  tlie  soul;"-  "  unlike  the 
authority  given  to  the  priests  of  the  old  law,  to  declare 
the  leper  cleansed  from  his  leprosy,  the  power  with  which 
the  priests  of  the  new  law  are  invested  is  not  simply  to 
declare  that  sins  are  forgiven,  but  as  the  ministers  of  God, 
really  to  absolve  from  sin."^  Thus  the  Catechism  of  the 
Council  of  Trent ;  but  bless  your  simple  soul  !  it  is  not 
the  Catechism  of  the  Council  that  is  infallible,  but  only 
the  decrees  of  the  Council ;  and  although  these  do,  in  their 
obvious  meaning,  seem  to  say  the  same  thing,  nevertheless 
Dr.  Stone  will  lind,  when  he  comes  to  search  anu)ng  them 
in  hopes  to  "  read  his  title  clear"  to  divine  forgiveness, 
on  the  ground  of  having  received  absolution  from  the 
priest,  that  what  they  say  is  qualified  by  so  many  saving 
clauses,  and  modified  by  so  many  counter-statements,  that 
the  seeker  for  the  assurance  of  his  own  salvation  is  as  far 
as  ever  from  being  able  to 

"  bid  farewell  to  every  fear, 

And  ^A'ipe  liis  weeping  eyes." 

Only  one  thing  is  absolutely  certain  ;  and  that  is  that  it 
is  impossible  for  him  to  be  forgiven  without  absolution,'^ 
but  whether  he  i«  forgiven,  or  is  going  to  be,  now  that 
he  has  received  his  absolution,  does  not  by  any  means  so 
distinctly  appear.  For  "  if  he  denies  that  in  order  to  the 
entire    and    perfect   forgiveness    of   sins,    tJiree  acts   are 

1.  Catcch.  Komaii,  p.  2;j'.t. 

2.  Ibid.,  i».  240. 

3.  /6»i.,  See  tho  various  Canons  of  Sessions  vi.  and   xiv.,  of  the  Council  of 
Trent,  abovc-iiuoted. 


HOW  THE  REV.  DR.  STONE  BETTERED  HIS  SITUATION.       145 

required  in  the  penltenty  to  wit,  Contrition,  Confession, 
and  Satisfaction,  he  is  to  be  Anathema,"  ^  which,  if  we 
understand  it  correctly,  is  quite  another  thing  from  being 
forgiven  and  assured  of  his  salvation.  Xow  Contrition, 
according  to  the  same  infallible  authority,  "  is  the  distress 
and  horror  of  the  mind  on  account  of  sin  committed,  with 
the  purpose  to  sin  no  more."  "  It  includes  not  only  the 
ceasing  from  sin,  but  the  purpose  and  commencement  of  a 
new  life  and  hatred  of  the  old."  ^  It  is  "  produced  by  the 
scrutiny,  summing  up,  and  detestation  of  sins,  with  which 
one  recounts  his  past  years  in  the  bitterness  of  his  soul, 
with  pondering  the  weight,  multitude,  and  baseness  of  his 
sins,  the  loss  of  eternal  happiness,  and  the  incurring  of 
eternal  damnation,  together  with  the  purpose  of  a  better 
life."^  Now  it  is  important  for  Dr.  Stone  to  understand 
(as  doubtless  he  has  been  told,  by  this  time)  that  although 
this  will  be  of  no  avail  to  him  without  the  absolution,  or 
at  least  the  desire  for  the  absolution,^  nevertheless  the 
absolution  will  be  of  none  effect  unless  the  contrition 
shall  have  been  adequately  performed. 

Furthermore,  a  second  part  of  the  sacrament  is  confes- 
sion, and  there  is  an  awful  margin  of  uncertainty  about 
this  act ;  for  it  is  damnable  to  deny  that  "  it  is  necessary, 
jure  divino,  in  order  to  forgiveness  of  sins,  to  confess  all 
and  every  mortal  sin  Avhich  may  be  remembered  after  due 
and  diligCiit  premeditation."'^  But  which  of  his  sins  are 
mortal  and  which  venial,  it  is  simply  impossible  for  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Stone  to  know  by  tliis  time,  for  it  is  a  life's  labor 

1.  Cone.  Trid,,  Sess.  xiv.,  Can.  4. 

2.  Ibid.,  Sess.  xiv.,  Cap.  4. 

3.  md.,  Sess.  xiv.,  Can.  5. 

4.  Ibid-,  Sess.  xiv.,  Cap.  4. 

5.  Ibid.,  Sess.  xiv..  Can.  7. 

10 


146       HOW  THE  REV.  DR.  STONE  BETTERED  HIS  SITUATION. 

to  learn  the  distinctions  between  them  from  the  theolo- 
gians, and  when  you  have  learned  the  distinctions^ 
you  have  no  certainty  about  them,  for  they  never 
have  been  infallibly  defined,  and  the  doctors  disagree. 
It  may  be  tedious,  but  it  is  obviously  necessary,  in 
order  to  the  assurance  of  his  salvation,  for  the  Doctor 
to  make  a  clean  breast  of  all  the  sins,  big  and  little,  that 
he  can  remember  "  after  due  and  diligent  premeditation.'^ 
But  what  degree  of  premeditation  is  "due"  and 
"  diligent,'*  is  painfully  vague,  considering  how  much  is 
depending  on  it.  It  Avere  well  he  should  give  his  whole 
time  and  attention  to  it.  Bat  even  then  he  would  be 
unable  to  judge  with  exactness  when  it  was  accom- 
plished. 

"  Exactly  so  !  "  doubtless  the  Eev.  Dr,  Stone  would 
say ;  "  and  herein  consists  the  happiness  of  us  who  have 
^rescued  ourselves  from  the  state  in  which  we  could  not 
be  assured  of  our  own  salvation' — that  we  have  the 
advantage  of  a  divinely  authorized  priest,  with  power  of 
binding  and  loosing,  who  shall  guard  us  from  self- 
deception  and  mistake,  and  certify  us  with  sacramental 
words  that  all  these  uncertain  conditions  are  adequately 
fulfilled,  and  assure  us,  in  so  many  words,  that  our  sins 
are  remitted.  0  the  comfort  of  this  distinct  assurance 
from  the  Church ! — this  blessed  sacrament  of  penance  ! — 
this  second  plank! after  shipwreck!" 

Poor  man  !  He  has  learned  by  this  time  that  his  priest 
does  not  undertake  to  certify  him  of  anything  of  the  sort 
— that  the  absolution  is  pronounced  on  the  presum^ptiou 
that  his  own  part  of  the  business  has  been  fully  attended 
to,  but  that  if  his  contrition  or  his  confession  has  been 
defective,  that  is  his  own  look  out,  and  he  must  suffer  the 


HOW  THE  REV.  DR.  STONE  BETTERED  HIS  SITUATION.       147 

consequences,  even   be  they  everlasting  perdition.     The 
absolution,  in  that  case  does  not  count  at  all.^ 

"  But,"  thinks  the  Rev.  Dr.  Stone,  a  little  concerned 
about  the  assurance  of  his  salvation,  "  if  all  the  issues  of 
eternal  life  are  to  turn  on  a  question  of  my  own  con- 
ciousness,  of  which  no  one  is  to  judge  but  myself,  I  do  not 
see  how  I  am  so  much  better  off  on  the  point  of  assurance 
than  when  I  was  a  Protestant,  and  had  the  distinct, 
undoubted  promise  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  himself  of 
salvation  on  condition  of  Repentance  and  Faith."  We 
feel  for  the  honest  man's  disappointment,  but  can  only 
recommend  to  him,  in  his  present  situation,  to  carry  his 
trouble  to  his  new  advisers.  The  best  advice  they  can 
give  him  will  perhaps  be  that  which  certain  other  high 
ecclesiastics,  of  unquestionable  regularity  of  succession 
and  validity  of  ordination  once  gave  to  a  distressed 
inquirer — "  What  is  that  to  us  ?  see  thou  to  that ! " 

•  It  begins  to  look  extremely  doubtful  whether  we  shall 
be  able  to  get  the  Rev.  James  Kent  Stone   to   heaven  at 

1.  "As  the  Church  may  sometimes  err  with  respect  to  persons,  it  may  happen 
that  such  an  one  who  shall  have  been  loosed  in  the  eyes  of  the  Church,  may 
be  bound  before  God,  and  that  he  whom  the  Church  shall  have  bound  may  be 
loosed  when  he  shall  appear  before  Him  who  knoweth  all  things,"  Pope  Inno- 
cent III.,  Epistle  ii.,  quoted  in  Bungener's  History  of  the  Council  of  Trent,  We 
beg  pardon  for  citing  the  language  of  a  pope  as  authority,  since  it  is  recognized 
on  all  hands  tliat  hardly  anything  is  more  unauthorized  and  fallible  than  the 
sayings  of  a  pope,  excepting  only  on  those  occasions  when  he  speaks  tx  cathedra, 
— and  precisely  when  that  is,  no  mortal  can  tell  with  certainty. 

Let  us  try  wliat  a  cardinal  will  say  :  '•  Without  a  deep  and  earnest  grief,  and 
a  determination  not  to  sin  again,  no  absolution  of  the  priest  has  the  slightest 
worth  or  avail  in  the  sight  of  God;  on  the  contrary,  any  one  Avho  asks  or  obtains 
absolutiftn,  without  that  sorrow,  instead  of  thereby  obtaining  forgiveness  of  his 
sins,  commits  an  enormous  sacrilege,  and  adds  to  the  weight  of  his  guilt,  and 
goes  away  from  the  feet  of  liis  confessor,  still  more  heavily  laden  thi.n  when  he 
approached  him. — Wiseman  on  the  Docti'ines  of  the  Church,  vol.  ii.,  p.  10. 

There  woultl  seem  to  be  nearly  the  same  amount  and  quality  of  comfort  for 
tender  consciences,  and  "  assurance  of  salvation  "  here,  as  may  be  found  (for 
example)  in  "  Edwards  on  the  Artections." 


148       HOW  THE  REV.  DR.  STONE  BETTERED  HIS  SITUATION. 

all^  on  this  course^  notwithstanding  he  has  come  so  far  out 
of  his  way  to  make  absolutely  sure  of  it.  But  supposing 
all  these  difficulties  obviated,  and  that  by  a  special 
revelation  (it  is  impossible  to  conceive  of  any  other  means 
of  coming  at  it)  he  discovers  that  his  baptism,  and  contri- 
tion and  confession  are  all  right,  and  furthermore  that  the 
priest  has  had  the  necessary  "  intention  "  in  pronouncing 
the  absolution,  and  supposing  a  number  of  other 
uncertainties  incident  to  this  way  of  salvation,  but  which 
we  have  no  time  to  attend  to,  to  be  entirely  obviated,  how 
happy  he  must  be,  2}0st  tot  discrimina  tutus,  assured  of  the 
forgiveness  of  all  his  sins,  and  how  delightful  the  prospect 
set  before  him  ! 

"  Sweet  fields  arrayed  in  living  green, 
And  rivers  of  delight !  " 

Alas,  no  !  If  the  Rev.  Dr.  Stone  has  any  such  idea  as 
this,  it  is  only  a  remnant  of  the  crude  notions  which  he 
picked  up  in  the  days  of  his  heresy,  b}^  the  private  inter- 
pretation of  the  Scriptures.  Let  him  now  understand  that 
it  is  damnable  error  to  hold  "  that  when  Grod  forgives  sins 
he  always  remits  the  whole  punishment  of  them."  ^  The 
eternal  punishment,  indeed,  is  remitted  ;  but  the  temporal 
punishment  which  remains  to  be  executed  maj''  reach  so  far 
into  the  world  to  come  that  it  is  impossible  to  predict  the 
end  of  it.  In  fact  the  characteristic  vagueness  in  which 
all  the  most  ifnportant  matters  that  pertain  to  one's 
salvation  are  studiously  involved  in  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church  is  remarkably  illustrated  in  this  matter  of  purga- 
torial torment.  The  nature  of  it  is  doubtful.  The  majority 
of  theologians  hold  that  it  is  effected  by  means  of  literal, 
material  fire — but  that  is  only  "  a  pious  opinion,"  and  will 

1.  Concil.  Ti-idcut.  Sess.  xiv.,  Can.  12.  Sec  also  Sess.  vi.,  can.  30. 


HOW  THE  REV.  DR.  STONE  BETTERED  HIS  SITUATION.       149 

not  be  known  for  certain  until  the  next  time  the  Pope 
speaks  ^^  out  of  his  chair."  The  degree  of  it  is  doubtful. 
St.  Thomas  Aquinas  thinks  that  it  exceeds  any  pain 
known  in  his  life  ;  Bonaventura  and  Bellarmine  guess 
that  the  greatest  pains  in  purgatory  are  greater  than  the 
greatest  in  this  world  ;  but  they  are  inclined  to  think  that 
the  least  of  the  pains  is  not  greater  than  the  greatest  in 
this  world. ^  But  the  duration  of  purgatorial  torment  is 
the  most  uncertain  thing  of  all.  Some  think  it  will  last 
only  a  little  while  ;  others  that  it  Avill  endure  for  years 
and  ages.  The  Church  either  don't  know  or  won't  tell. 
The  most  distinctly  settled  thing  about  the  Avhole  business 
seems  to  be  this  :  that  no  one  was  ever  yet  known  to  be 
delivered  from  purgatory  so  long  as  there  was  any  more 
money  to  be  got  out  of  his  family  by  keeping  him  in. 

Is  it  not,  now,  rather  a  rough  disappointment  to  a  man 
who  has  done  so  much,  and  travelled  so  far,  on  the  pro- 
mise of  a  clear  and  "  assured"  view  of  his  future  happiness, 
to  bring  him  through  all   those   perils  to  the  top    of  his 

Mount  Pisgah,  and  bid  him  look  off  on  a lake  of  fire 

and  brimstone  ?  We  put  it  to  the  pope,  in  behalf  of 
our  deceived  and  injured  fellow  citizen — is  it  the  fair 
thing  ? 

Well,  after  all,  ten  thousand  years  of  purgatory,  more 
or  less,  will  not  so  much  matter  to  our  friend,  so  long  as 
he  is  "  assured  of  his  own  salvation"  from  eternal  perdi- 
tion. Ay  ;  there's  the  rub.  He  is  not  assured.  Supposing 
it  is  all  right  thus  far,  with  his  baptism  and  confirmation 
and  penance  (and  we  have  not  stated  a  half  of  the 
difficulties  of  this  supposition)  he  is  now  indeed  in  a  state 
of  grace,  and  all  his  sins  are  forgiven,   albeit  part  of  the 

1.  Dens,  De  Purgatorio. 


1  50      HOW  THE  REV.  DR.  STONE  BETTERED  HIS  SITUATION. 

punishment  of  them  is  liable  still  to  be  inflicted,  in 
purgatuiy.  If  he  dies  now,  happy  man !  for  (always 
supposing  as  above)  he  is  sure  of  being  saved,  sooner  or 
later.  But  he  has  no  certainty  of  remaining  in  this  state  of 
grace  for  an  hour.  And  the  Church  (kind  mother!)  has 
provided  for  the  security  of  her  children  hj  other  sacra- 
ments, notably  by  the  sacrament  of  the  Eucharist.  Dr.  Stone 
had  undoubtedl)^,  in  his  heretic  days,  read  the  sixth 
chapter  of  John,  with  the  query,  What  if  the  Roman 
interpretation  of  these  promises  is  the  true  one,  and  in 
order  to  have  eternal  life,  I  am  required  to  eat  the  flesh 
and  drink  the  blood  of  the  Son  of  man,  literally,  in  the 
transubstantiated  bread  and  wine  ;  and  he  now  recalls  the 
Lord's  promise,  "  if  any  man  eat  of  this  bread  he  shall  live 
forever?'*^ — "Whoso  eateth  my  flesh  and  drinketh  my 
blood  hath  eternal  life;"^  and  he  finds  no  small  comfort 
in  it.  It  is  not  pleasant  to  discover,  indeed,  that  the 
Church,  even  granting  the  interpretation  of  the  passage, 
declares  it  of  none  efi'ect,  giving  it  to  be  understood  that 
thousands  upon  thousands  have  eaten  the  veritable  "  body 
and  blood,  soul  and  divinity"  of  the  Lord,  and  gone 
nevertheless  into  eternal  death.  But  yet  your  "  anxious 
inquirer  "  does  seem  to  come  nearer  now  to  what  he  was 
looking  for — a  sacrament  that  shall  do  its  saving  work  on 
him  independently  of  the  presence  of  that,  the  necessity 
of  which  casts  si»ch  a  doubt  on  all  Protestant  hopes, — 
faith  on  the  part  of  the  partaker.  This  is  the  satisfaction 
of  the  doctrine  of  the  opus  operatum,  that  it  makes  the 
saving  virtue  of  the  sacrament  to  depend,  not  on  what  it 
is   so    difiicult   for  the   recipient  to   ascertain — his  own 

1.  John  vi.,  51,  also  58. 

2.  Ibid.,  vi.,  54, 


now  THE  REV.  DR.  STONE  BETTERED  HIS  SITUATION.       1 51 

faith  ;  but  on  what  it  is  absolutely  impossible  for  him  to 
ascertain — the  intention  of  the  priest.  And  not  this 
alone.  Before  the  priest,  even  with  the  best  of  inten- 
tions, has  an}?-  power  to  consecrate  the  bread,  and  trans- 
form it  into  "  the  body  and  blood,  soul  and  divinity  "  of 
the  Lord,  he  must  have  been  ordained  by  a  bishop  who 
should,  at  the  time  of  ordaining,  have  had  "  the  intention 
of  doing  what  the  Church  does,"  and  who  in  turn  should 
have  been  ordained  with  a  good  intention  by  another 
bishop  with  a  good  attention,  and  so  on  ad  infinitum,  or 
at  least  ad  Pet  ram.  And  when  we  bear  in  mind  that  the 
validity  of  the  ?>«_27^^s»^  of  each  of  these  depends  just  as 
absolutely  on  so  many  unknown  and  unknowable  "  inten- 
tions," and  that  in  case  of  the  invalidity  of  their  baptism j 
which  is  "  the  gate  of  the  sacraments,"  they  were 
incapable  of  receiving  ordination  themselves,  and  so 
incapable  of  conferring  it,  the  chance  of  poor  Dr.  Stone's 
ever  getting  a  morsel  of  genuine,  certainly  attested 
''  body  and  blood,  soul  and  di\inity  "  between  his  lips, 
becomes,  to  a  mathematical  mind,  infinitesimal.  There 
have  been  cases  of  ecclesiastics  who  in  their  death-bed 
confessions  have  acknowledged  the  withholding  of 
multitudes  of  "  intentions."  Who  can  gaess  what 
multitudes  besides  have  been  withheld  with  never  a  con- 
fession, or  with  a  confession  which  has  never  been  heard 
of.  But  the  wilful  withholding  need  not  be  supposed. 
"  The  smallest  mistake,  even  though  made  involuntarily, 
nullifies  the  whole  act."  ^ 

1.  Pope  Innocent  III.,  Ep.  ix.  "The  Council  of  Florence  had  pronounced  the 
same  opinion  .  .  .  Let  an  infidel  or  a  dreamy  priest  baptize  a  child  Avith out 
having  seriously  the  idea  of  baptizing?  it,  tliat  child,  if  it  die,  is  lost;  let  a  bishop 
ordain  a  priest,  without  having  actually  and  formally,  from  absence  of  mind  or 
any  oilier  cause,  the  idea  of  conferring  the  priesthood,  and  behold,  we  have  a 


152       HOW  THE  REV.  UR.  STONE  BETTERED  HIS  SITUATION. 

The  hope  of  salvation  through  the  sacraments  of  the 
Church  grows  dimmer  and  dimmer.  It  is  well  for  our 
neophyte  to  cast  ahout  him  and  see  if  there  he  found  no 
adjuvants  that  may  reinforce  in  some  measure  that 
"  assurance  of  his  salvation/'  to  which  the  Holy  Father 
has  somewhat  inconsiderately  invited  him."  "  It  is  a 
good  and  useful  thing/'  says  the  Council  of  Trent^ 
"  suppliantly  to  invoke  the  saints,  and  ...  to  flee  for 
refuge  to  their  prayers,  help  and  assistance."  It  is  com- 
monly represented  to  Protestants  that  this  is  a  mere 
recommendation,  and  that  nohody  is  required  to  invoke 
the  saints  ;  hut  Dr.   Stone  has  by  this  time   been  long 

priest  AA'ho  is  not  a  priest,  and  those  whom  he  shall  baptize,  marry  or  absolve, 
will  not  he  baptized,  married  or  absolved.  The  pope  himself  without  suspecting 
it,  might  have  been  ordained  in  this  manner ;  and  as  it  is  from  him  that  every- 
thing flows,  all  the  bishops  of  the  Church  might  some  day  find  tliemselves  to  be 
false  bishops,  and  all  the  priests  false  priests,  without  there  being  any  possibility 
of  restoring  the  broken  link  "'  Bangeuer,  Hist,  of  the  Council  of  Trent,  pp.  158, 
159.  The  author  evidently  mistakes  in  making  the  validity  of  baptism  to  depend 
on  priestly  ordination.  That  alone  of  the  sacraments  is  valid  if  administered 
(with  intention)  by  a  "Jew,  pagan,  or  heretic." 

Bimgcner  need  not  have  put  the  case  hypothetically.  Writing  at  the  period 
of  the  great  Western  Schism,  "the  papal  secretary,  Coluccio  Salutato,  paints  in 
strong  colors  the  universal  uncertainty  and  anguish  of  conscience  produced  by 
the  schism,  and  his  own  conclusion  as  a  Papalist  is  that  as  all  ecclesiastical 
jurisdiction  is  derived  from  the  pope,  and  as  a  pope  invalidly  elected  cannot 
give  what  he  does  not  himself  possess,  no  bishops  or  priests  ordained  since  the 
death  of  Gregory  XI.  could  guarantee  the  validity  of  the  sacraments  they  ad- 
ministered. It  followed  according  to  him,  tiiat  any  one  who  adored  the  eucharist, 
consecrated  by  a  priest  ordained  in  schism,  worshipped  an  idol.  Such  was  the 
condition  of  Western  Christendom."— TAe  Pope  and  the  Council,  by  Janus, 
p,  240  • 

It  is,  doubtless,  with  reference  to  difficulties  like  these  that  saving  clauses  are 
introduced  into  the  utterances  of  the  Church:— "  Without  the  sacraments  or  the 
desire  for  them;"  "if  any  man  ivilfuUy  separate  from  the  communion  of  the  Holy 
See,"  &c.  But  if  these  clauses  save  the  difficulties  of  the  Church's  doctrine,  then 
they  destroy  the  doctrine  itself.  If  the  good  intentions  of  the  penitent  are  what 
secure  to  him  the  grace  of  the  sacraments,  then  that  grace  does  not  depend  on 
the  intention  of  the  priest;  and  the  provision  which  so  many  souls  are  yearning 
for,  of  a  througli  ticket  to  heaven  that  does  not  depend  on  their  own  interior 
character,  is  miserably  cut  off. 


HOW  THE  REV.  DR.  STONE  BETTERED  HIS  SITUATION.       15^ 

enough  under  discipline  to  have  found  out  that  that  is 
nothing  bat  a  polite  pretence,  and  to  be  convinced  that  if 
there  is  anything  to  be  gained  by  saint-worship,  he  had 
better  be  about  it,  for  "help  and  assistance"  are  what  he 
IS  sadly  in  need  of.  But  which  of  the  saints  shall  he  take 
refuge  to  ? — for  there  is  an  emharras  cle  richesses  here.  As 
to  some  of  them,  there  is  a  serious  and  painful  uncertainty, 
as  in  the  case  of  Mrs.  Harris,  as  to  whether  there  is  "  any 
sich  a  person.*'  As  to  others,  there  is  strong  human 
probability  that,  in  the  "  unpleasantness  "  that  prevailed 
between  heathen  and  Christian  in  the  early  times,  they 
were  on  the  wrong  side.  And  in  general,  the  Church  fails 
to  give  certain  assurance,  as  de  fide,  concerning  them, 
that  they  are  yet  in  a  position  to  act  effectively  as  inter- 
cessors— whether,  in  fact,  they  are  not  to  this  day 
roasting  in  purgatory,  and  in  sorer  need  of  our  inter- 
cession than  we  of  theirs.  The  Church,  we  say,  has  not 
pronounced  assuredly  and  defide  on  this  point ;  and  what 
Dr.  Stone  is  invited  to  by  the  Holy  Father,  and  what 
doubtless  he  means  to  get,  is  assurance,  not  "  pious 
opinion." 

It  will  be  ^^  safer''  for  Dr.  Stone  "to  seek  the  salvation 
through  the  Virgin  Mary  than  directly  from  Jesus."  So 
at  least  he  is  taught  in  books  authorized  and  indorsed  by 
the  Church.  But  this  is  a  very  slender  gain,  for  the  same 
books  assure  him  that  without  the  intercession  of  Mary 
there  is  no  safety  at  all — that  "  the  intercession  is  not 
only  useful  but  necessary" — that  "to  no  one  is  the  door 
of  salvation  open  except  through  her" — that  "  our 
salvation  is  in  her  hands  " — that  "  Mary  is  all  the  hope  of 
our  salvation;"^  so  that  the  amount  of  this  assurance   (if 

1.  See  "The  Glories  of  Mary/'  by  St-  Alphonsus  Liguori,  approved  by  fJolin^ 


1  54       HOW  THE  REV.  Dll.  STONE  BETTERED  HIS  SITUATION. 

one  could  be  assured  of  its  authority)  is  only  this,  that  it 
it  is  better  than  nothing  at  all. 

Undoubted^,  the  Eev.  Dr.  Stone  Avould  do  well  to  get 
him  a  scapular.  "About  the  year  1251,  the  Holy  Virgin 
appeared  to  the  blessed  St.  Simon  Stock,  an  Englishman, 
-and  giving  him  her  scapular,  said  to  him  that  those  who 
wore  it  should  be  safe  from  eternal  damnation."  Further- 
more, "  Mar}^  appeared  at  another  time  to  Pope 
John  XXII.,  and  directed  him  to  declare  to  those  who 
wore  the  above-mentioned  scapular,  that  they  should  be 
released  from  purgatory  on  the  Saturday  after  death ;  this 
the  same  pontiff  announced  in  his  bull,  which  was  after- 
wards confirmed  by  "  several  other  popes."  ^  This, 
declared  in  a  book  which  is  guaranteed  by  a  pope  to 
contain  no  false  doctrine,  is  really  the  nearest  that  we  can 
find  in  the  entire  Homan  system  to  an  assurance  of 
salvation.  But  to  the  utter  dismay  of  poor  Dr.  Stone,  just 
as  he  is  on  the  point  of  closing  his  hand  on  what  the  pope 
had  invited  him  to, — "  laying  hold,"  as  an  old  writer 
expresses  it,  "  on  eternal  life "  in  the  form  of  a  scapular, 
— he  discovers  not  onl}^  that  Pope  Paul  Y.,  in  1612, 
added  a  sort  of  codicil  to  the  Virgin's  promise,  which 
makes   it    of    doubtful  value,    but   in   general,   that  the 

Archbishop  of  New  York;  chapter  v.,  on  '*tlie  need  we  have  of  the  intercession 
of  Mary  for  our  salvation."  It  has  been  certitied  by  the  pope  in  the  act  of 
canonization  that  the  Writings  of  St.  Alphonsus  contain  nothing  worthy  of  cen- 
sure. But  as  it  is,  up  to  tliis  present  writing,  impossible  to  sa.v  certainly  whether 
this  was  one  of  the  pope's  infallible  utterances  or  one  of  liis  fallible  ones — there 
we  are  again,  in  an  uncertainty. 

For  a  full  collection  of  autliorized  Roman  Catholic  teachings,  to  the  effect  that 
*'it  is  impos.sil)le  for  any  to  hi' saved  who  turns  away  from  Mary,  or  is  disre- 
garded by  her,"  see  Tusey's  Eirenicon,  pp.  St9,  seqq. — bearing  in  mind,  however, 
the  claim  of  the  ilefenders  of  the  Roman  Catholic  system,  that  their  Church  is 
not  to  be  considered  responsible  for  its  own  authorized  teachings. 

1.  Glories  of  Mary,  pp.  271,  272,  CGO. 


HOW  TPIE  REV.  DR.  STONE  BETTERED  HIS  SITUATION.       155 

inerrant  author  of  the  Grlories  of  Mary  "  protests  that  he 
does  not  intend  to  attribute  any  other  than  purely  human 
authority  to  all  the  miracles,  revelations  and  incidents 
contained  in  this  book."  ^  But  "  purely  human  authority  " 
is  not  exactl}^  what  we  care  to  risk  our  everlasting 
salvation  on  ;  is  it,  Dr.  8tone  ? 

Nothing  seems  to  remain  for  our  bewildered  friend,  but 
to  apply  for  indulgences.  To  be  sure  he  does  not  yet 
knoAv  that  he  has  ever  been  effectually  loosed  from  mortal 
sin,  or  if  he  has  been,  that  he  will  not  relapse  into  it  and 
die  in  it;  and  in  either  case  indulgences  will  do  him  no 
good.  He  will  go  down  quick  into  hell — and  not  get  his 
money  back  either.  But  supposing  him  to  have  escaped 
eternal  perdition,  it  will  be  well  worth  while  to  have 
secured  indulgences, — which  may  be  had  of  assorted 
lengths,  from  twenty-five  day  indulgences  for  "  naming 
reverently  the  name  of  Jesus  or  the  name  of  Mary,"  up 
to  twenty-five  thousand  and  thirty-thousand  year  indul- 
gences, granted  for  weightier  consideration.  But  inasmuch 
as  Dr.  Stone  has  not  the  slightest  idea  how  many  millions 
of  years  he  may  have  to  stay  in  purgatory,  if  he  ever  has 
the  happiness  to  get  there,  it  will  be  best  for  him  to  go  in 
for  plenary  indulgences,  and  save  all  mistakes.  There  are 
various  ways  of  securing  them  ;  and  it  may  well  employ 
all  Dr.  Stone's  unquestionable  talents  to  decide  how  he 
shall  get  the  amplest  indulgence  at  the  least  cost  of  time 
and  labor.  On  a  superficial  examination,  we  are  disposed 
to  think  that  there  is  nothing  better  to  recommend  than 
the  wearing  of  scapulars.  Says  St.  Alphonsus  de  Ligugri: 
^'  The  indulgences  that  are  attached  to  this  scapular  of  our 
Lady  of  Mt.  Carmel,  as  well  as  to  the  others  of  the  Dolors 

1.  Glories  ol"  Mary,  Protest  of  the  author,  p.  4. 


156       HOW  THE  REV.  DR.  STONE  BETTERED  HIS  SITUATION. 

of  Mary,  of  Mary  of  Mercy,  and  particularly  to  that  of 
the  Conception,  are  innumerable,  daily,  and  plenary,  in 
life  and  at  the  article  of  death.  For  myself,  I  have  taken 
all  the  above  scapulars.  And  let  it  be  particularly  made 
known  that  besides  many  particular  indulgences,  there 
are  annexed  to  the  scapular  of  the  Immaculate  Conception^ 
Avhich  is  blessed  by  the  Theatine  Fathers,  all  the  indul- 
gences which  are  granted  to  any  religious  order,  pious 
place  or  person.  And  particularly  by  reciting  ^Our 
Father,'  ^ Hail  Mary,'  and  ^Grlorybeto  the  Father,'  six 
times  in  honor  of  the  most  holy  Trinity  and  of  the 
immaculate  Mary,  are  gained  each  time  all  the  indulgences 
of  Rome,  Portmncula,  Jerusalem,  Grallicia,  which  reach 
the  number  of  four  hundred  and  thirty-three  plenary 
indulgences,  besides  the  temporal,  which  are  innumerable. 
All  this  is  transcribed  from  a  sheet  printed  by  the  same 
Theatine  Fathers."^  0  if  the  Theatine  Fathers  were  only 
infallible,  or  if  we  could  be  sure  that  indulgences  were 
absolute  and  not  conditional  upon  sundry  uncertainties, 
how  happy  we  might  be  !  B.ut  a  great  theologian,  after- 
ward a  pope,^  declared  that  "  the  effects  of  the  indulgence 
purchased  or  acquired,  are  not  absolute,  but  more  or  less 
good,  more  or  less  complete,  according  to  the  dispositions 
of  the  penitent,  and  the  manner  in  which  he  performs  the 
work  to  which  the  indulgence  is  attached."  And  one  has 
only  to  glance*  through  the  pages  of  some  approved 
theologian,  like  Dr.  Peter  Dens,  to  find  that  this  whole 
doctrines  of  indulgences  is  so  contrived  as  to  be,  on  the 
0E|^  hand,  indefinitely   corrupting  and  depraving   to  the 

1 ,  Glories  of  Mary,  p.  661. 

2.  Pope  Adrian  VI.,  Comm.  on  the  Fourth  Book  of  The  Sentences,  quoted  by 
Bungener,  Council  of  Trent,  p.  4. 


HOW  THE  REV.  DR.  STONE  BETTERED  HIS  SITUATION.       157 

common  crowd  of  sinners,  and  on  the  other  hand  to  give 
the  least  possible  of  solid  comfort  to  fearful  consciences. 
With  every  promise  of  remission  that  the  Church  gives — 
for  a  consideration — she  reserves  to  herself  a  dozen 
qualifications  and  evasions,  which  make  it  of  none  effect.^ 

In  the  dismal  uncertaint}^  which  besets  everj^  expedient 
for  securing  one's  salvation  which  we  have  thus  far 
considered,  our  friend  will  devote  himself  in  sheer  des- 
peration to  works  of  mortification,  which  are  alleged  by 
his  advisers  to  have  a  good  tendency  to  "  appease  the 
wrath  of  God."  Fastings  and  abstinences  are  good  ;  but 
a  hair  shirt  is  far  more  effective,  if  his  skin  is  tender;  and 
we  cannot  doubt  that  flagellation  is  more  serviceable  than 
either.  A  good  scourge  is  not  expensive,  but  it  should 
have  bits  of  wire  in  the  lashes  for  a  more  rapid 
diminution  of  purgatorial  pains.  Sundry  contrivances 
applied  to  one's  bed,  or  to  the  soles  of  one's  shoes,  are 
recommended  by  the  experience  of  some  eminent  saints, 
as  of  great  efficacy  in  securing  one  against  future  torment. 
It  would  not  be  well  for  Dr.  Stone,  in  his  quest  for 
assurance,  to  omit  any  of  them.  But  alas  !  when  he  has 
done  all,  he  is  in  the  same  dreary,  dismal  darkness  as 
before. 

Through  such  dim  and  doubtful  ways  the  poor  Doctor 
treads  halting  and  hesitating  till  he  comes  toward  the  end 
of  this  weary  life.    Of  all  his  friends  Avho   have  departed 

1.  Dens,  Ti-actat.  de  Iudul<?.  passim.  Notab.  3i,  37,  38,  39.  Says  Cardiual 
Wiseman: 'For  you,  my  Catholic  brethren,  know,  that  without  a  penitent  con- 
fession of  your  sins,  and  the  worthy  partieipation  of  the  blessed  Eucharist,  no 
indul{?ence  is  anything  worth."  Doctrines  of  the  Church,  vol,  ii,  p.  76.  This, 
however,  is  said  in  a  course  of  Lectures  designed  to  commend  the  doctrines  of  the 
Church  to  Protestants  ;  when  the  object  has  been  to  comfort  the  devotee,  or  to 
raise  revenue  for  the  Roman  treasury,  the  tone  of  the  authorized  representatives 
of  the  Church  has  sometimes  been  far  more  assuring. 


158       HOW  THE  REV.  DR,  STONE  BETTERED  HIS  SITUATION. 

this  life  before  him,  he  has  no  confident  assurance  that 
they  are  not  in  hell ;  but  he  cherishes  a  hope  that  they 
may  be  roasting  in  the  fires  of  purgatory,  though  he  is 
aware  that  there  is  even  a  faint  chance  that  they  may  be 
in  heaven;  but  he  pays  for  daily  masses  and  indulgences 
in  their  behalf,  being  assured  by  theologians  that  if  these 
do  not  help  his  friends,  they  may  in  all  probability  be  of 
service  to  some  on  else.^  The  nearest  to  certainty  that  he 
comes,  on  any  such  question,  is  in  the  belief  that  his  godly 
parents  and  friends  that  have  lived  and  died  in  simple  faith 
on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  are  suffering  everlasting 
damnation — and  even  this  is  doubtful.  As  the  hour  of 
death  draws  near,  he  feels  for  his  various  scapulars,  and 
finds  them  right ,  he  sends  for  his  confessor,  and  makes 
one  more  confession  which  is  subject  to  all  the  doubtful 
conditions  of  those  that  have  gone  before,  receives  once 
more  an  absolution  which  is  absolute  in  its  terms,  but 
conditional  in  its  meaning,  and  receives  the  half  of  a 
eucharist  the  efficiency  of  which  depends  on  an  uncertain 
combination  of  conditions  in  his  own  soul  and  history 
complicated  with  an  utterly  unascertainable  series  of  facts 
in  the  hidden  intention  of  every  one  of  a  series  of  priests 
and  bishops  back  to  Simon  Peter  himself.  This  done,  the 
church  approaches  him  with  a  final  sacrament  which  pro- 
mises once  more  to  do  what  it  thereby  acknowledges  that 
the  other  sacrameiits  have  failed  to  accomplish — to  "  wipe 
away  offenses,  if  any  remain,  and  the  remains  of  sin  " — 
to  "  confer  grace  and  remit  sins."  ^  But  it  is  entirely 
unsettled  among  theologians  what  this  promise  means.  It 
cannot  be  the  remitting  of  mortal  sin,  for  if  the  penitent 

1    Dens.  Tract,  de  Indulg.  No.  10. 
2.  Cone.  Trid.,  Sess.  xiv.,  Can,  2, 


HOW  THE  REV,  DR.  STONE  BETTERED  HIS  SITUATION.       159 

have  any  sacli  unforgiven,  he  is  not  allowed  to  receive 
the  unction ;  and  it  cannot  refer  to  venial  sins  for  a  good 
many  reasons  that  are  laid  down  ;  and  it  cannot  mean 
"  proneness  or  habit  left  from  past  sin,"  for  "  it  often 
happens  that  the}^  who  recover  after  the  sacrament  feel 
the  same  proneness  to  sin  as  before."  ^  In  fact,  at  the 
conclusion  of  the  sacrament,  Dr.  Stone  will  send  for  his 
lawyer,  and  if  any  thing  remains  of  his  property  after  his 
lieavy  expenditure  in  masses  and  indulgences  for  the 
benefit  of  his  deceased  friends,  he  will  leave  it  by  will  to 
be  given  for  masses  to  shorten  up  .the  torments  which  after 
all  these  labors  and  prayers  to  Mary,  and  mortifications, 
and  sacraments,  he  still  perceives  to  be  inevitable.^  But 
even  in  this,  he  bethinks  himself  of  the  uncertainty 
whether  masses  paid  for  in  advance  will  ever  be  actually 
said  or  sung.^     But,  poor  soul,  it  is  the  best  he  can  do, 

1.  Bellarmine,  De  Extv.  Unet,  i.  9,  T.  ii.,  p.  1198.  9,  Quoted  in  Puscy's 
Eirenicon,  209-211. 

2.  A  most  sti-ikiiift-  instance  of  this  is  veoovtletl  in  one  of  the  most  interesting  and 
recent  records  of  Roman  Catholic  piety— the  Life  of  the  Cure  d'Ars.  The  old 
cure  of  Ars,  had  lived  a  life  of  preeminent  holiness,  in  which  his  acts  of  self 
mortification  had  been  so  austere  and  cruel  as  to  have  broken  down  his  health — 
such  that  others  could  not  hear  them  described  without  a  slmddcr.  As  his  death 
drew  near,  he  "desired  to  be  fortified  by  the  grace  of  the  last  sacraments;  "  and 
the  Abbe  Vianney  then  heard  liis  confession,  and  administered   to  him  the   last 

rites  of  the  Church The  following  day  the  Abbe  Vianney  celebrated 

a  mass  for  his  revered  master,  at  which  all  the  villagers  were  present.  When 
this  service  was  concluded,  M.Bailey  requested  a  private  interview  with  his 
vicar.  During  this  last  and  solemn  conversation,  the  dying  man  placed  in  his 
hands  the  instruments  of  his  penitence  [scourges,  &c.]  'Take  care  my  poor 
Vianney,' he  said, 'to  hide  these  things;  if  they  find  theni  after  my  death  they 
will  tliink  I  have  done  something  during  my  life  for  the  expiation  of  my  sins, 
and  they  will  leave  me  in  Purgatory  to  the  end  of  the  ivorld.'"  The  Cure  d'Ars  : 
A  Memoir  of  Jean-Baptiste-Marie  Vianney.  By  Gcorgina  Molyneux. 
London  :  1869. 

3.  There  will  hartlly  fail  to  occur  to  him  the  scandalous  cause  celebre  trie  d  a. 
few  months  since,  in  Paris,— the  case  of  a  large  brokerage  in  masses  for  the  dead 
which  undertook  to  get  the  masses  performed  by  country  priests  at  a  lower 


160       HOW  THE  REV.  DR.  STONE  BETTERED  HIS  SITUATION. 

and  so  he  gets  them  to  give  him  a  blessed  taper  to  hold, 
and  gives  up  the  ghost  while  it  burns  out,  and  they 
sprinkle  his  body  with  holy  water  and  bury  it  in 
consecrated  ground  to  keep  it  safe  from  the  demons,  and 
his  children  give  their  money  to  get  him  out  of  purgatory 
(in  case  he  is  there)  and  down  to  the  latest  generation 
never  know  (unless  their  money  gives  out)  whether  they 
have  succeeded,  or  whether  in  fact  he  has  not  all  the  while 
been  hopelessly  in  hell  along  Avith  his  good  old  father  and 
mother. 

We  cannot  better  wind  up  this  exhibition  of  the  way 
in  which  the  church  of  Rome  fulfils  her  promise  of  giving 
assurance  of  salvation,  than  by  quoting  the  language  of  a 
most  competent  witness,  the  Rev.  J.  Blanco  White,  once 
a  Roman  Catholic  theologian  in  high  standing  in  Spain, 
afterwards  a  Protestant,  whose  trustworthiness  is  vouched 
for  by  Eather  Newman,  from  intimate  personal  acquaint- 
ance. ^     Mr.  AVhite  says  : 

«  The  Catholic  who  firmly  believes  in  the  absolving  power  of  his 
church,  and  never  indulges  in  thought^  easily  allays  all  fears 
connected  with  the  invisible  world.  Is  there  a  priest  at  hand  to 
bestow  absolution  at  tho  last  moment  of  life,  he  is  sure  of  a  place 
in  Heaven,  however  sharp  the  burnings  may  be  which  are  appointed 
for  him  in  Purgatory. 

"  But  alas,  for  the  sensitive,  the  consistent,  the  delicate  mind 
that  takes  the  infallible  church  for  its  refuge  !  That  church  offers 
indeed  certainty  in  every  thing  that  concerns  our  souls;  but.  Thou, 
God,   who   hast  witnessed   my   misery   and   that  of  my   nearest 

figure  than  the  ruling  city  prices,  but  was  detected  in  retaining  tlie  money  with- 
out securing  the  saying  of  the  masses  at  all. 

1.  "1  have  the  fullest  confidence  in  his  word  when  he  witnesses  to  facts,  and 
facts  whicli  lie  knew."  He  was  one  "who  had  special  means  of  knowing  a 
Catholic  country,  and  a  man  yon  can  trust."  Lecijiircs  on  the  present  Position  of 
Catholics  in  England,  hy  John  Henry  Newman,  D.D.     1851. 


HOW  THE  REV.  DR.  STONE  BETTERED  HIS  SITUATION.       161 

relations — my  mother  and  my  two  sisters,  knowest  that  the 
promised  certainty  is  a  bitter  mockery.  The  Catholic  pledges  of 
spiritual  safety  are  the  most  agonizing  sources  of  doubt.'' ^ 

"  The  Sacraments  intended  for  pardon  of  sins  could  not  (accord- 
ing to  the  common  notions)  fail  in  producing  the  desired  effect. 
For,  if,  as  was  subsequently  given  out,  all  those  divinely-instituted 
Rites  demanded  such  a  spiritual  state  in  the  recipient,  as  without 
any  external  addition  would  produce  the  desired  effect,  what 
advantage  would  be  offered  to  the  believer?  If  absolution 
demanded  true  repentance  to  deliver  from  sin,  this  was  leaving  the 
sinner  exactly  in  the  same  condition  as  he  was  in  before  even  the 
name  of  the  pretended  Sacrament  of  Penance  was  heard  of  in  the 
world.  But  if  these  conditions  alone  can  give  security,  no  thinking 
person,  and  especially  no  anxious,  timid  person,  can  find  certainty 
in  the  use  of  the  Sacraments.  And  none  but  the  naturally  bold 
and  confident  do  find  it.  To  these,  the  Sacraments,  instead  of 
being  means  of  virtue,  are  encouragements  of  vice  and  iniquity. 

"  0  God  !  if  Thou  couldst  hate  any  thing  thou  hast  made,  what 
weight  of  indignation  would  have  fallen  upon  a  Constantine,  and 
an  Alva  !  And  yet  the  former  having  put  off  baptism  till  the  last 
opportunity  of  sinning  should  be  on  the  point  of  vanishing  with  the 
last  breath  of  life,  declares  the  heavenly  happiness  which  filled  his 
soul  from  the  moment  he  came  out  of  the  baptismal  water  :  the 
latter,  that  cold-blooded  butcher  of  thousands,  declares  that  he  dies 
without  the  least  remorse.  On  the  other  hand,  have  I  not  seen  the 
most  innocent  among  Thy  worshippers  live  and  die  in  a  maddening 
fear  of  Hell !  They  trembled  at  the  Sacraments  themselves,  lest, 
from  want  ot  a  fit  preparation,  they  should  increase  their  spiritual 
danger."  • 

It  might  be  very  tedious  to  read,  but  it  would  certainly 
be  very  easy  to  present,  like  proofs  to  show  that  in 
"  heeding  the  invitation  "  of  the  pope  to  come  to  him  for 
infallible  teaching  in  matters  of  belief,  Dr.  Stone  has  come 
onl}^  to  like  grief  and  anxious  uncertainty.  He  has  stated 


1.  Life  of  the  Rev.  Joseph  Blanco  AVhitc,  written  by  himself.    Edited  by  Joliu 
Hamilton  Thorn.     London  :    1815:     Vol.  IIL,  pp.  256-258, 


1 62      HOW  THE  REV.  DR.  STONE  BETTERED  HIS  SITUATION. 

very  neatly  the  fallacy  of  those  who  have  sought  for  an 
infallible  interpreter  of  Scripture  in  the  writings  of  the 
Fathers.  "  They  do  not  see  that  in  place  of  acting  upon 
a  new  rule,  they  have  only  increased  the  difficulties  of  the 
old  ;  that  instead  of  obtaining  an  interpreter,  they  have 
only  multiplied  the  number  of  the  documents  which  they 
must  themselves  interpret  or  have  interpreted  for  them;" 
and  "  are  in  fact  resorting  to  what  has  been  aptly  called 
^  the  most  ingenious  of  all  Protestant  contrivances  for 
submitting  to  nothing  and  nobody.'"'^  Marvellous  !  that 
a  man  who  is  so  shrewd  to  perceive  this  fallacy  in  the 
system  he  has  just  left,  should  be  so  blind  to  the  same 
fallacy  in  the  system  he  has  just  adopted  !     He  had 

"jumped  into  a  bramble  bush 

And  scratched  out  both  his  eyes  ; 

"  And  ^hen  he  saw  his  eyes  were  out, 
With  all  his  might  and  main, 
He  jumped  into  another  bush 
To  scratch  them  in  again." 

By  just  so  far  as  his  new  teacher  is  infallible,  it  is 
simply  documentary — paper  and  printer's  ink — Fathers, 
Councils,  Bulls,  Briefs,  more  Bulls,  more  Briefs,  and 
another  Council  again,  documents  upon  documents,  all  in 
the  Latin  tongue  (which,  happily.  Dr.  Stone  is  able  to 
read)  imtil  the  world  cannot  hold  the  books  that  have 
been  written.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  just  so  far  as  he 
has  access  to  his  new  teacher  as  a  living  teacher — a 
representative  of  the  Catholic  hierarchy — he  finds  him 
confessedly  fallible — an  uninspired  priest  or  bishop^ 
likely  enough  an  unconvicted  heretic,  and  at  least  liable^ 

1.  The  Invitation  Hcetled,  pp.  158,  I5y. 


HOW  THE  REV.  DR.  STONE  BETTERI:D  HIS  SITUATION.       1 63 

to  all  human  blunders  and  endless  "variations"'  in 
expounding  and  applying  the  faith  of  the  church.  If; 
disgusted  with  these  miserable  comforters,  he  carries  his 
doubts  to  the  apostolic  threshold,  and  receives  a  solution 
of  them  from  the  successor  of  Peter  himself;  it  is  a  poor 
reward  for  his  pilgrimage  when  he  learns  that  the  words 
of  the  Pontiff  spoken  in  his  capacity  as  a  private  teacher 
are  no  more  infallible  than  those  of  any  Protestant 
minister.  So  that  the  certainty  of  poor  Dr.  Stone's  faith, 
unless  he  chooses  the  alternate  risk  of  going  to  the  docu- 
ments himself  and  taking  his  chance  of  being  "  saved  by 
scholarship,"  or  by  "  private  interpretation,"  is  resolved 
into  the  mere  '•^  fides  impUcita,'' — of  being  willing  to 
believe  the  truth  if  he  only  knew  Avhat  it  was — and  that, 
if  we  understand  him,  is  just  what  he  had  before  he  got 
the  Pope's  letter,  with  the  exception  that  at  that  time 
there  were  fewer  elements  of  uncertainty  in  his  mind. 

And  just  as  with  questions  of  truth,  so  is  it  with 
questions  of  duty.  In  search  of  definiteness  and  certainty 
he  has  gone  voyaging  upon  a  waste  of  dreary  casuitry, 
upon  whose  fluctuating  surface  he  lies  becalmed,  tossed 
to  and  fro  between  "  probabilism"  and  "  probabiliorism," 
and  0,  how  sea-sick  !  There  is  nothing  for  him  but  to 
"do  as  they  do  in  Spain;"  and  how  that  is  we  learn  from 
Father  Newman's  friend,  Blanco  White: 

"  In  a  country  where  every  person's  conscience  is  in  the  keeping- 
of  another,  in  an  interminable  succession  of  moral  trusts,  the 
individual  conscience  cannot  be  under  the  steady  discipline  of  self- 
governing  principle ;  all  that  is  practised  is  obedience  to  the 
opinions  of  others,  and  even  that  obedience  is  inseparably  connected 
with  the  idea  of  a  dispensing  power.  If  you  can  obtain  an  opinion 
favorable  to  your  wishes,  the  responsibility  falls  on  the  adviser, 
and  you  may  enjoy  yourself  with  safety.     The  adviser,  on   the 


1  04       now  THE  REV.  DR.  STONE  HETTKKEl)  HIS  SlTriATION. 

other  hand,  having  no  consciousness  of  the  action,  has  no  sense  ot 
remorse  ;  and  thus  the  whole  morality  of  the  country,  except  in 
very  peculiar  cases,  wants  tiie  steady  ground  of  individual 
responsibility."  ' 

The  sum  of  the  whole  matter  seems  to  be  this :  that  the 
certainty  and  confidence  of  the  disciple  of  the  Church  of 
Rome,  whether  regarding  matter  of  belief  or  matter  of 
practice,  consists  in  putting  his  head  in  a  l)ag,  and  giving 
the  string  to  his  confessor. 

The  "invitation  lieeded"  by  Dr.  Stone  contains  other 
seductive  promises  which  it  would  ])e  well  for  us  to 
consider,  if  there  were  time.  W^e  can  only  allude,  with  a 
word,  to  the  excellent  things  which  his  Holiness  offers,  in 
this  invitation,  to  society  and  government  in  Protestant 
countries,  in  pity  of  the  misfortunes  under  which  he 
perceives  them  now  to  be  suffering. 

"  Whoever  recognizes  religion  as  the  foundation  of  human  society 
cannot  but  perceive  and  acknowledge  what  disastrous  effect  this 
division  of  principles,  this  opposition,  this  strife  of  religious  sects 
among  themselves,  has  had  upon  civil  society,  and  how  powerfully 
this  denial  of  the  authority  established  by  God  to  determine  the 
belief  of  the  human  mind,  and  to  direct  the  actions  of  men  as  well 
in  private  as  in  social  life,  has  excited,  spread,  and  fostered  those 
deplorable  ui>heavals,  those  commotions  by  which  almost  all 
peoi)les  are  grievously  disturbed  and  afflicted."  "  On  this  longed 
for  r(!turn  to  the  tfufh  and  unity  of  the  Catholic  church  depends  the 
salvation  not  only  of  individuals,  but  also  of  all  (Jhristian  society  ; 
and  never  can  the  world  enjoy  true  peace,  unless  there  shall  be  one 
Fold  and  one  Shepherd."-' 

We  see  here  the  value  of  an  infallible  teacher  !  If  it 
had  not  been  revealed  to  us  thus  from  heaven,  we  never 

1.  Life  of  J.  Blanco  Whlto,I.,p.  38. 

2.  L(!tt(!r  of  l»o|)c  Tins  IX.,  St'|i(.  i;(tli,  IHCH. 


now  THE  REV.  DR.  STONE  BETTERED  HIS  SITUATION.       165 

should  have  guessed  that  what  secured  national  tranquillity 
was  national  adherence  to  the  Holy  See.  But  now  we  see 
it — by  the  eye  of  faith.  Poor  England,  racked  with 
intestine  commotions! — if  she  could  but  learn  the  secret 
of  Spanish  order  and  tranquillity  and  prosperity!  Unhappy 
Scotland,  the  prey  of  social  anarchy,  and  devoured  by 
thriftless  indolence !  Will  she  not  cast  one  glance  across 
the  sea,  and  lay  to  heart  the  lesson  of  Irish  serenity  and 
peace  and  wealth?  Poor  Protestant  Prussia,  and  Den- 
mark, and  Scandinavia  "  grievously  disturbed  and 
afflicted"'  by  ''those  deplorable  upheavals  and  com- 
motions'' Avhich  his  Holiness  talks  about,  and  yet  so 
pitifully  unconscious  of  them  all  !  How  slight  the  price, 
— a  mere  "Fall  down  and  worship  me" — with  which  they 
might  purchase  to  themselves  the  sweet  calmness  and 
good  order  and  unbroken  quiet  that  have  characterized 
the  history  of  Catholic  France  and  Italy,  and  even  the 
ineffable  beatitude  of  those  happy  States  of  the  Church, 
Avhich,  ungrateful  for  their  unparalleled  blessings,  have 
been  waiting  for  twenty  years  for  a  good  chance  to  put 
the  pope  (in  his  temporal  capacity)  into  the  Tiber !  Nay, 
nay  !  Let  us  not  refuse  to  bring  home  the  teaching  of  our 
Shepherd  to  our  own  bosoms.  What  land  has  been  more 
the  victim  of  ''this  division  of  ])rinciples,  this  opposition, 
this  strife  of  religious  sects  ailiong  themselves,''  than  our 
own  unhappy  country  ?  Ah  !  were  the  people  wise  !  Do 
they  not  feel  the  "disastrous  effects"  of  their  refusal  to 
submit  to  the  Holy  See — the  "  deplorable  upheavals  and 
commotions,"  and  all  ?  Can  they  resist  the  allurements 
of  those  examples  of  national  happiness  which  fill  the 
whole  Western  Hemisphere,  save  the  two  pitiable 
exceptions  of  Canada  and  the  United  States?  Speak,  dear 


1  06       HOW  THE  REV.  DR.  8T0XE  BETTERED  HIS  .SITUATION. 

Dr.  8tone,  speak  once  more  to  your  infatuated  fellow 
countrymen,  and  persuade  them,  if  you  can,  to  end  this 
hundred  years'  history  of  commotion  and  revolution  and 
disastrous  change  which  they  have  nearly  completed,  by 
substituting  the  majestic  stability  of  Mexico,  and 
(Guatemala  and  Colombia,  and  all  the  Catholic  continent 
down  to  the  Straits  of  Magellan!  ^  Already  a  ray  of  hope 
shines  in  upon  the  darkness  of  the  Protestant  land.  One 
bright  spot  is  irradiated  with  the  triumph — the  partial 
triumph — of  Roman  principles  of  government.  Can  it  be 
irrational  to  hope  that  when  these  principles  prevail  in 
the  same  degree  throughout  the  land,  we  shall  have  every- 
where, under  State  and  general  governments,  the  same 
placid  order,  the  same  security  for  life  and  property,  the 
same  freedom  from  turl)ulence  and  riot,  the  same  purity 
of  election^j,  the  same  integrity  in  the  discharge  of  public 
trusts,  the  same  awfulness  of  judicial  virtue,  as  prevail  in 
the  Catholic  city  and  county  of  New  York? 

We  have  left  ourselves  very  little  space  to  express  as 
we  would  like  the  real  respect  which,  after  all,  we  feel 
for  this  book,  and  still  more  for  this  author.     With  here 

1.  Father  Hyacinthe  does  not  seem  to  come  up  to  the  standard  of  Roman 
doctrine  on  this  i)oint.  "Ah,  well  I  know— and  many  a  time  have  I  tfroaned 
within  niysolf  to  think  wfit— theso  nations  of  tin;  Latin  race  and  of  the  Catholic 
rcIif;;ion  have  hcen  of  la'te  the  most  griovonsly  tried  of  all !  Not  only  hy  intijstiue 
fncH,  by  the  (juakin;?  of  the  earth,  by  the  inrushin;;'  of  the  sea.  liook  with 
imiiartial  eye,  with  the  fearless  serenity  of  trnth,  with  that  assnranee  of  faith 
which  fears  not  to  accejjt  the  revelations  of  experience,  and  then  tell  me— where 
it  is  that  the  moral  foundations  (juake  most  violently?  Whcsre  does  tiie  current 
of  a  formidable  electricity  ffive  tlie  severest,  the  most  incessant  shocks  to  repub- 
lics as  well  as  monarchic^sV  Among  tlie  Latin  races;  among  the  Catholic  nations. 
Yes,  by  some  inscrutable  desif^n  of  I'rovidimce,  they,  more  than  others,  have 
had  to 'drink  of  the  eup  deep  and  larfJTC  ;'  they  have  wet  their  lips  more  deeply 
in  Die  chalice  in  which  are  mingled  'the  wine,  the  lightning,  and  the  spirit  of 
the  storm;'  and  they  have  become  possessed  with  the  madness  of  the  drunkard." 
Discourses  of  Fatlier  Hyaeinthe,  Vol.  I.,  \).  1.5.'). 


HOW  THE  REV.  DR.  STONE  BETTERED  HIS  SITUATION.       167 

hml  there  a  slip  in  graniinar  or  diction,  and  with  no  more 
of  pedantry  than  can  easily  be  pardoned  to  the  author's 
vocation,  the  work  is  beautifully  written  ;  and  if  there 
does  seem  to  be  a  dreadful  gap  between  what  the  author 
intended  when  he  started,  and  what  he  found  where  he 
stopped,  it  must  be  acknowledged  that  he  passed  from 
starting  point  to  goal  with  consecutive  steps  along  an 
intelligible  path.  His  argument,  although  encumbered 
with  mistakes,  is,  nevertheless,  good  against  any  opponent 
who  accepts  his  premiss, — that  the  Church  Universal  is  a 
visible  corporation.  His  appeal  to  all  Protestants  to 
examine  with  candor  the  grounds  of  their  belief,  and 
bravely  and  sincerely  accept  the  consequences,  is  earnest, 
tender  and  touching — all  the  more  so,  as  the  unhappy 
author  in  his  very  exhortation,  evidently  looks  back  upon 
those  generous  moments  when  he  himself  was  practising 
these  virtues,  as  Adam  might  have  looked  back  upon 
Paradise.  Those  hours  can  never  return.  Never  more 
may  he  exercise  the  manly  virtue  which  he  now  commends 
to  others,  and  which  we  doubt  not  he  faithfully  practised 
until  it  became  a  prohibited  good.  Let  him  iioiv  attempt 
to  look  into  the  writings  of  those  who  differ  from  him, 
with  a  view  to  "  examining  candidly  the  grounds  of  his 
faith,"  and  the  thunderbolt  of  the  excommunication  latce 
sententice  breaks  forth  upon  him  from  the  Bull  In  Ccena 
Domini.^  We  are  so  affected  by  the  honest  Doctor's 
exhortation  to  candid  inquiry,  that  we  shrink  from  putting 
ourselves,  like  him,  in  a  situation  in  which  if  we  candidly 
inquire  we  are  damned. 

The  little   volume   will   reasonably  be  expected  to  be 
more    effective  as   a  fact  and  a   testimony    than    as    an 

1.  higorii  Thc'ol.  Moral.  63,  735. 


1 68       HOW  THE  REV.  DR.  STONE  BETTERED  HIS  SITUATION. 

argument.  As  a  testimony,  its  precise  value  is  this  : 
Until- two  3^ears  ago,  the  author,  believing  himself  to  be 
entirely  sincere  and  candid,  held,  as  the  result  of  private 
judgment,  a  system  (according  to  his  own  statement) 
wildly  inconsistent,  illogical  and  self- destructive,  which 
he  vindicated  to  himself  and  others  by  arguments  plausible 
and  satisfactory.  Within  two  years,  after  candid  but 
astonishingly  brief  examination,  in  the  exercise  of  the 
same  private  judgment,  he  has  dropped  that  system  and 
adopted  another,  also  with  entire  sincerity,  and  vindicated 
by  plausible  arguments,  which  he  is  not  permitted 
candidly  to  re-examine.  It  is  solely  by  the  use  of  the  same 
private  judgment  that  played  him  so  false  before,  that  he 
has  come  to  embrace  this  other  system. 

Qu.: — What  is  the  probability  that  he  has  got  the 
truth  now  ? 

This  is  what  he  may  never  know. 

One  thing  alone  he  holds  intelligently — that  the  Roman 
church  is  the  true  church  of  Christ ;  and  this  he  knows 
only  by  his  poor  private  judgment,  which  he  is  not 
permitted  to  revise.  Every  thing  else  he  takes  on  the 
authority  of  this.  And  this,  being  known  only  by  private 
judgment,  may  be  a  mistake  ! 

Poor  man ! 


►;^^0oOCCcSt<3<- 


THE  CATHOLIC  REFORMATION  IN  SWITZERLAND.    169 


YIII. 


THE    CATHOLIC    REFORMATION 
IN    SWITZERLAND.* 


Switzerland  may  be  called  the  Palestine  of  modern 
geography.  It  bears  relations  to  the  great  powers  of  contem- 
porary civilization,  in  some  respects,  even  more  remarkable 
than  those  which  the  little  strip  of  soil  along  the  Jordan, 
at  the  meeting  of  three  continents,  bore  to  the  civilizations 
of  antiquity.  Like  that  of  Palestine,  its  situation,  while 
affording  it  small  temptation  to  aggression  upon  its  neigh- 
bors, is  supremely  advantageous  for  defense,  for  isolation 
from  foreign  influence,  and  yet  at  the  same  time  for  the 
exercise  of  effective  influence  outward  upon  other  nations. 
To  these  advantages,  it  adds  another  in  its  polyglot  facility 
of   communication    with  the  most  important  nations    of 

1.  From  the  International  Review  for  July,  1874. 

La  Question  Catholiqne  a  Geneve,  de  1815  a  1873.  Expose  Historique.  Par 
Aniedt^e  Roj?et.    Geneva,  1874. 

La  Lil)crte  Religieusc  et  les  Evcnemcnts  de  Genfevc,  1815-1873.  Par  A.  de 
Richecour,  doetenr  en  droit,  avocat  a  la  Cour  de  Paris.    Paris,  1873. 

La  Liturj^ie  d(!  I'Ej^lise  Catholiqne  de  Geneve,  k  T  usage  des  fideles.  Geneva, 
1873. 

De  la  Refornie  Catholiqne.    Par  le  Pere  Hyacinthe.   Paris,  1872. 


170  THE  CATHOLIC  REFORMATION  IN  SWITZERLAND. 

Europe.  That  long-persistent  division  of  the  Swiss  people 
into  Grerman,  French,  and  Italian,  necessitating  the  tri- 
lingual publication  of  the  Federal  laws,  which  stands  in 
such  striking  contrast,  on  the  one  hand,  with  the  thorough 
unity  of  the  nation,  and  on  the  other  hand,  with  the  rapid 
-assimilation  and  extinction  of  diverse  languages  in  the 
American  republic,  opens  "  an  effectual  door  of  utterance'* 
for  the  nation  toward  its  neighbors  on  every  side.  There 
is  something  of  history,  but  still  more  of  prophecy,  written 
in  the  very  map  of  Switzerland.  It  is  a  land  of  yet  un- 
fulfilled destiny.  The  eye  traces  its  great  watercourses 
into  the  most  important  lands  of  civilized  Europe,  and 
recognizes  the  lines  down  which  potent  influences,  social 
and  religious,  are  to  descend. 

If  Switzerland  is  the  Palestine  of  Europe,  the  Jerusalem 
of  Switzerland  is  Geneva.  "The  theological  city,*'  as  it 
has  been  called  by  one  of  its  famous  historians,  seems  to 
be  pervaded  by  an  endemic  influence,  inciting  to  religious 
discussion  and  agitation.  The  eager,  irrepressible  spirit 
of  John  Calvin  walks  abroad  from  his  unknown  sepulchre 
-as  the  genius  loci.  That  austere  and  melancholic  soul 
ought  to  find  comfort  for  the  wide  apostasy  of  Geneva 
from  the  doctrines  which  he  taught,  and  those  grim  linea- 
ments to  relax-a  little  upon  the  canvas,  in  view  of  the 
renewal  of  his  OAvn  story  after  a  lapse  of  ten  generations. 
It  seems  like  the  running-title  of  a  Life  of  Calvin,  when 
we  propose  to  sketch  the  stor}^  of  a  religious  reformation 
from  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  incited  by  the  growth 
of  abuses  at  Rome,  inaugurated  in  the  Catholic  universities 
of  Germany,  transplanted  for  a  completer  and  more  vigorous 
growth  into  the  soil  of  Geneva,  and  there,  under  the 
guidance  of  an  exiled  Frenchman,  taking  on  the  logical, 


THE  CATHOLIC  REFORMATION  IX  SWITZERLAND.  171 

consistent,  and  organized  form  by  which  it  becomes  fitted 
for  wide  propagation  and  success.  If  a  movement,  which 
shows  in  its  early  stages  such  curious  points  of  undesigned 
coincidence  with  the  great  Reformation  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  should  by-and-b}?-  be  developed  in  like  proportions, 
an  International  Review  could  not  excuse  itself  for 
having  neglected  the  opening  scenes  of  the  play  on  account 
of  the  narrowness  of  the  stage  on  which  the}^  were 
produced. 

In  attempting  a  sketch  of  the  ecclesiastical  and 
religious  changes  of  the  last  twelve  months  in  Switzerland, 
there  is  every  reason  for  narrowing  the  field  of  view  in 
general  to  the  little  Canton  of  Cleneva,  turning  aside,  from 
time  to  time,  to  remark  the  like  movements,  parallel  or 
divergent,  in  other  States  of  the  Confederation. 

The  Catholic  Reformation  is  constituted  of  two  veiy 
distinct  factors — the  religious  and  political — neither  of 
which,  in  the  actual  circumstances,  could  have  amounted 
to  much  without  the  other.  The  managers  of  the  Vatican 
Council  had  counted  not  unreasonably  on  the  power  of 
hierarchical  organization,  reinforced  by  a  certain  amount 
of  intelligent  theological  conviction  (which  Protestant 
observers  are  little  disposed  to  recognize)  in  some  of  the 
clergy,  and  by  the  fanaticism  of  the  devout  fraction  of 
the  laity,  to  bear  down,  in  the  long  run,  either  the  anger 
of  the  governments  and  peoples,  irritated  by  the  exaltation 
of  the  Syllabus  of  1864  to  a  level  with  the  canonical 
Scriptures,  or  the  protests  against  false  doctrine  which 
might  emanate  from  the  Catholic  universities,  or  from 
individual  consciences  among  the  priesthood  or  the 
instructed  lait3\  They  could  bow  their  heads  for  the 
storm  of  political  indignation  to  blow  over;  or  they  might 


172  THE  CATHOLIC  REFORMATION  IN  SWITZERLAND. 

wait,  with  a  confidence  warranted  by  repeated  experience^ 
for  the  reaction  of  the  individual  intellect  and  conscience-- 
to  work  itself  off  in  the  shape  of  sundry  secessions  to 
Protestantism,  of  here  and  there  a  local  schism,  or  of  an 
uncertain  increment  to  the  vast  but  indefinite  multitude^ 
prevailing  in  every  Catholic  country,  of  defunct  priests> 
and  indifi'erentist  laymen. 

In  fact,  for  a  long  time  after  the  suspension  of  the* 
Vatican  Council,  aff'airs  seemed  to  march  much  according 
t )  this  programme.  However  disastrous  the  outbreak  of 
war  may  have  been,  in  some  of  its  results,  to  the  Roman 
Curia,  it  is  questionable  whether,  in  the  occupation  which. 
it  afforded,  at  that  juncture,  to  monarchs,  cabinets,  and 
parliaments,  it  did  not  yield  a  clear  balance  of  advantage 
in  their  favor.  Certainly  the  political  after-clap  of  the 
Council  seemed  to  have  been  averted.  As  for  the  moral 
and  religious  revolt  that  had  been  anticipated,  few  signs^ 
of  it  appeared  except  in  German}^,  and  there  it  was  and 
still  continues  to  be  a  movement  of  the  universities  rather 
than  of  the  clergy  or  people.  In  France,  the  splendid 
little  party  of  Liberal  Ultramontanes^  was  extinguished^ 

1.  No  mistake  can  be  more  mislealing  than  to  suppose  that  the  French 
Liberal  Catliolic  party  of  a  few  years  ago — the  party  of  Lc  Correspondant — was 
the  repres^'ntative  of  poZZeca>?  principles.  On  tlie  contrary,  the  brief  career  of 
his  party  was  a  bra^-e,  earnest,  and  dashinj^-,  but  utterly  futile  attempt  to 
combine  Ultramontane  notions  in  relif^ious  matters  with  broadly  liberal  views 
in  politics.  The  "strn;^^le  for  existence"  within  the  Church  which  this  party 
made  was  gallant,  but  n<»  completer  failure  is  recorded  in  history.  The  famous 
bull  Quanta  CV/ra,  and  some  parts  of  the  Syllabus,  are  not  to  be  understood  with- 
out some  knowled{.?e  of  the  Liberal  Catholic  party,  at  which  they  were  especially 
aimed.  After  that  blow  had  fallen,  the  party  began  by-aud-by  to  lift  up  its- 
head  again  ;  whereupon  the  Council  of  the  Vatican  gave  it  the  coup  de  grace  by 
erecting  those  two  famous  documents  into  authoritative  standards  of  fsiith.  This 
was  th(^  chief  pending  practical  ([uestion  settled  .by  the  Vatican  Council— the 
question  wliether  a  Liberal  party  was  to  be  tolerated  within  the  Roman  Church. 

The  i»arty,as  a  jiarty,  died  instantaneously.  Its  organ,  Le  CorreKpomlnif, 
submitted  to  the  decree  of  the  Council.  Tlie  n«»l)lest  of  its  leaders,  Montalembert, 


THE  CATHOLIC  REFORMATION  IN  SWITZERLAND.  173 

In  Switzerland,  here  and  there  a  recalcitrant  cure  refused 
his  neck  to  the  new  yoke,  and  associations  of  Liberal 
Catholics  were  formed  in  some  of  the  cities,  but  no  sign 
indicated  that  the  reaction  against  the  new  dogma  and  its 
implications  would  be  extensive  or  permanent.  In  Geneva, 
the  Old  Catholic  Association,  although  embracing  a  large 
part  of  the  most  respectable  and  influential  of  the  Catholic 
laity,  led  a  languishing  life,  and  after  a  few  months 
seemed  ready  to  vanish  away.  To  all  appearance  the 
storm  which  had  been  portended  was  blowing  over. 

But  just  now  supervened  the  combination  which  was 
most  formidable  to  the  Roman  power — the  combination 
of  religious  conviction  with  political  interest  and  patriotic 
feeling.  To  explain  this  takes  us  back  to  the  starting- 
point  of  all  contemporary  history — to  the  Treaties 
of  1815. 

With  these  treaties,  the  existence  of  Roman  Catholicism 
under  the  government  of  Protestant  Geneva  commenced, 
by  the  annexation  of  a  considerable  tract  of  Savoyard 
territory  to  the  little  State.  The  new  Catholic  population, 
constituting  a  little  more  than  one-third  of  the  total 
population  of  the  enlarged  canton,  came  in  under  treaty 
stipulations  for  protection  in  their  religious  rights.  They 
were  confessedly  inferior  in  education  and  intelligence, 
and  although  the  old  Protestant  supremacy  of  the 
republic  took  reasonable  alarm,  feeling  itself  near  its  end, 

Gratry,  Foisset,  Cochin,  died  in  rapid  succession,  Felix  Dupanloup,  Bishop  of 
Orleans,  hand  felix  opporfunitate  mortis,  survives  in  open  recreancy  to  his 
principles,  and  Messrs.  De  Falloux  and  De  Brof?lie  have  thought  better  of  the 
vow  which,  in  conjunction  with  the  aforementioned,  they  registered  on  a  tablet 
in  the  chapel  at  Roche-en-Brcnil,  to  "  devote  the  remainder  of  their  lives  to  God 
and  liberty."  Only  one  of  the  brilliant  coterie  of  Liberal  Catholics  now  remains 
faithful  to  the  principles  which  they  lield  in  common  ;  and  him  the  rest  of  the 
survivors  are  reproachinj?  with  recreancy  and  apostasy  ! 


174  THE  CATHOLIC  REFORMATION  IN  SWITZERLAND. 

nevertheless  the  new  citizens  did  not,  for  a  long  time^ 
attempt  to  make  themselves  directly  felt  in  politics.  The 
course  of  events  from  that  time  down  on  this  tiny  stage 
has  presented  most  curious  points  of  resemblance  to  the 
exactly  contemporaneous  history  of  the  great  republic 
across  the  ocean.  The  Protestant  and  Old  Genevese 
jealousy  waxed  warm  in  view  of  the  continual  growth  of 
the  uncongenial  Eomish  population  within  and  around 
the  walls  of  the  city  of  Calvin.  Anti-popery  propagandas 
and  lodges  were  organized,  and  there  was  annual  exulta- 
tion over  scores — in  one  year,  upward  of  a  hundred  at 
once — of  proselytes  publicly  renouncing  in  the  old 
cathedral  their  allegiance  to  the  Pope.  But  notes  of  alarm 
and  foreboding  blended  with  these  paeans ;  for  notwith- 
standing large  defections,  of  which  the  array  of  public 
proselytes  was  but  a  small  proportion,  and  which  were 
offset  by  few  or  no  conversions  in  the  other  direction,  the 
proportion  of  the  Catholic  population  continued  to  grow 
with  formidable  rapidity,  both  in  city  and  in  canton.  It 
was  to  be  explained  by  two  constant  facts  of  universal 
observation  :  first,  that  the  current  of  emigration,  the 
world  over,  generally  sets  away  from  Catholic  States  and 
toward  Protestant  ones  ;  second,  that  the  unskilled  labor 
upon  great  public  works  generally  assembles  masses  of 
Catholic  rather  than  Protestant  laborers.  In  1843,  the 
cantonal  census  showed,  in  a  population  of  61,000,  a 
Protestant  majority  of  only  (3,(500.  In  18()0,  there  was  a 
Catholic  majority  of  2,000 ;  and  in  1870,  of  more  than 
5,000.  In  the  city  of  Oeneva  there  are  now  about  20,000 
Catholics  to  25,000  Protestants. 

Politicians  of  course  were  not  idle  iu  view  of  the  large 
accession  of  voting  material    which  was   supposed    to   be 


THE  CATHOLIC  REFORMATION  IN  SWITZERLAND.  175 

largely  affected  by  religious  considerations  and  clerical 
intiuence.  Each  party  did  something  to  conciliate  the 
Catholic  vote  by  grants  of  land  for  church  buildings,  by 
accommodations  of  the  school  system,  by  bestowals  of 
office,  b}^  compliments  to  the  clergy,  etc. ;  and  each  party 
denounced  the  other  for  such  compliances.  Meanwhile  the 
clergy  grew  excessively  exacting  and  insolent.  Boasts 
were  publicly  made  of  their  expectation  to  say  mass  in 
the  old  cathedral — the  mother-church  of  the  Reformed 
Churches  of  the  world  ;  and  the  erection  of  the  magnificent 
church  of  Notre  Dame  cle  Geneve — itself,  in  size  and  style, 
a  cathedral — upon  land  given  by  the  State,  gave  point 
and  prominence  to  these  defiances  flung  into  the  face  of 
Protestantism  in  its  ancient  stronghold.  The  clergy  now 
ventured  on  a  conflict  with  the  political  authorities  of  the 
canton,  timing  their  attack,  in  their  insane  over- 
confidence,  to  coincide  with  the  reaction  among  the  Catholic 
laity,  against  the  Vatican  decrees. 

It  was  brought  about  on  this  wise :  By  a  distinct 
understanding  between  the  Holy  See  and  the  Geneva 
Government  in  1819,  this  city  was  to  form  part  of  the 
Diocese  of  Lausanne,  whose  bishop  sits  at  Fribourg. 
The  understanding,  however,  prot^ed  to  be  subject  to  the 
disadvantages  incident  to  all  contracts,  one  party  to 
which  is  sole  judge  of  right  and  wrong,  with  unlimited 
power  to  give  itself  dispensations  from  its  promise. 
In  1864,  the  clever,  ambitious  Abbe  Mermillod  was 
appointed  Cure  of  Geneva,  with  the  consent  of  the  State, 
and  according  to  the  local  usage  was  appointed,  by  the 
bishop  at  Fribourg,  vicar-general  of  the  diocese.  Not  long 
after,  he  receives  from  the  Pope  the  honorary  title  of 
Bishop  of  Hebron  in  partihus  infidelium,  and  assumes  to 


176  THE  CATHOLIC  REFORMATION  IN  SWITZERLAND. 

himselfj  as  fast  or  faster  than  discretion  would  permit,  the 
state  and  functions  of  Bishop  of  Greneva.  Certain  parishes 
falling  vacant,  the  Ciovernment  notifies  the  Bishop  of 
Lausanne  of  the  fact,  and  invites  him  to  nominate,  but  is 
referred  to  "  Bishop  Mermiilod  "  as  the  person  to  whom 
the  Holy  See  has  committed  the  aff'airs  of  Greneva.  On 
this  point  the  issue  is  joined — Mermiilod  refusing  to 
abate  his  pretensions,  and  the  G-overnment  refusing  to 
tolerate  them.  The  Bishop  of  Lausanne  tries  to  solve  the 
difficulty  by  formally  abdicating  the  charge  of  Greneva, 
and  thus  shutting  up  the  Grovernment  to  the  choice 
between  Bishop  Mermiilod,  now  made  vicar  apostolic  by 
the  Pope,  and  no  bishop  at  all.  The  State  is  not  slow  in 
accepting  the  latter  alternative,  and  enunciates  to  the 
people  its  programme  of  a  new  "  law  for  the  organization 
of  Catholic  worship,"  by  which,  according  to  a  precedent 
which  has  prevailed  from  time  immemorial  in  some  of  the 
Swiss  dioceses,  the  Catholic  parishes  themselves  should 
choose  their  own  priests. 

Meanwhile,  as  this  contest  was  coming  to  its  height, 
the  Catholic  managers,  with  astonishing  infelicity,  took 
occasion,  at  a  pending  election,  to  express  their  dis- 
satisfaction with  the  treatment  which  they  had  received 
from  their  then;  allies,  by  carrying  over  their  vote  and 
adding  it  (in  a  sort  of  coalition  curiously  common  in  the 
history  of  both  sides  of  the  ocean)  to  the  reddest  radical 
democratic  part}^.  But  by  this  time,  both  political  parties 
had  grown  tired  of  being  played  with  in  this  game  of  fast 
and  loose.  The  overtures  of  the  "  Independents  "  were 
accepted  by  the  "  Radicals,"  and  the  two  parties 
combined  to  give  the  clerical  party,  in  November,  1872, 
one  of  the  most  complete  and  righteous  whippings  known 


THE  CATHOLIC  KEFORMATIOX  IN  SWITZERLAND.  177 

111  the  history  of  republican  government.  Natu rally ,  the 
war  with  the  insolent  and  disloj^al  Merinillod  took  on  a 
sharper  aspect.  He  treated  the  Government  with  open 
defiance,  until,  in  February,  1873,  by  an  act  which  went 
to  the  extreme  boundary  of  lawful  authority,  but  in  the 
opinion  of  the  highest  Swiss  authorities  did  not  overstep 
it,  he  was  put  over  the  frontier  of  Switzerland  and 
warned  not  to  return.  The  projected  law  providing  for 
the  election  of  Catholic  pastors  by  their  own  flocks  was 
accepted  b\"  the  people  by  a  tremendous  vote,  in  March, 
1873  ;  and  so  the  political  part  of  the  revolution  was 
mainly  accomplished. 

About  this  time  the  "Old  Catholic"  Association  of 
Geneva,  which  had  become  nearly  defunct,  was  waked  up 
into  liveh^  activity,  and  resolved  boldly  to  send  for  that 
man  in  the  Catholic  Church  whose  name  was  most 
abhorred  by  the  Ultramontane  clergy,  and  whose  course 
(especially  his  marriage)  pledged  him  most  irrevocably  to 
open  and  perpetual  war  with  Home.  Father  Hyacinthe 
arrived  at  Geneva  just  about  the  time  of  the  popular  vote 
upon  the  Law  for  the  Organization  of  Catholic  Worship. 
The  arrangements  for  his  addressing  the  public  were  in 
the  hands  of  a  committee  of  Cathdic  la3^men,  and  in  the 
issue  of  gratuitous  tickets  of  admission  to  the  hall  where 
he  was  to  speak,  preference  was  always  given  to  Catholics 
who  might  wish  to  hear  an  exposition  of  the  principles  of 
the  Catholic  Reformation.  The  necessity  of  some  such 
precaution  had  not  been  miscalculated.  The  total  number 
of  sitting  and  standing  places  in  the  vast  room  was 
disposed  of  within  half  an  hour  from  the  beginning  of  the 
distribution.  For  upward  of  three  thousand  tickets  there 
were    thirty     thousand    applications.        The    impression 


178  THE  CATHOLIC  REFORMATION  IN  SWITZERLAND. 

produced  by  the  indescribable  eloquence  of  the  great 
preacher,  in  this  and  subsequent  discourses,  was  pro- 
digious. But  the  power  of  eloquence  has  been  less 
illustrated,  in  the  progress  of  this  movement  from  that 
time,  than  the  power  of  a  great,  sincere,  and  simple 
character.  Few  men  have  ever  been  at  the  same  time 
the  object  of  such  deadly  hate  from  their  antagonists,  and 
of  so  warm  a  personal  love  from  all  besides  who  know 
them,  as  Father  Hyacinthe.  Alongside  of  his  fiery 
indignation  against  falsehood,  and  against  timid  com- 
pliance with  falsehood,  there  was  a  singular  lack  of 
asperity,  either  of  language  or  of  feeling,  toward  those 
who  were  daily  tasking  their  invention  for  new  forms  of 
public  abuse  of  himself  and  his  wife.  In  contrast  with 
his  flat  refusal  to  accept  the  dogmatic  degree,  which  he 
held  to  be  a  modern  falsehood  imposed  by  an  enslaved 
council  and  episcopate,  men  marked  the  child-like  faith 
with  which  he  received  every  thing  which  bore,  to  his- 
view,  the  mark  of  an  authentic  tradition  of  the  Churchy 
and  the  steadiness  with  which  he  refused  the  slightest 
compliance  toward  the  great  mass  of  rationalist  free- 
thinkers among  the  Catholic  laity,  who  were  all  too  ready 
to  applaud  him^  and  whom  it  was  his  heart's  desire  to 
recover  to  the  Christian  faith.  It  was  not  strange  that 
under  the  influence  of  his  inspiring  words  and  example, 
the  Catholic  Reform  movement  in  Geneva  should  take 
very  much  the  form  of  a  personal  following  of  H3^acinthe. 
At  the  request  of  the  Old  Catholics,  a  temporary  chapel 
was  fitted  up  in  the  library  of  the  Old  College,  known  as 
Calvin's  Library,  and  there,  in  May,  1873,  mass  was  said 
for  the  first  time  in  the  French  language.  The  protest 
against  new  dogmas    and  hierarchical  usurpations  grew 


THE  CATHOLIC  REFORMATION  IN  SWITZERLAND.  179 

into  a  positive  organized  religious  power.  One  or  two 
priests  of  great  dignity  of  character  resigned  their  livings 
in  French  dioceses,  in  order  to  join  themselves  to  so  hope- 
ful a  reform.  These  have  been  followed  by  others  in 
increasing  numbers,  among  whom  are  men  eminent 
among  the  French  clergy  for  eloquence  and  spiritual  use- 
fulness in  the  ministry.  The  current  of  these  defections 
seems  still  to  grow,  '^  like  the  letting  out  of  water." 

The  first  application  or  the  new  cantonal  law  for  the 
election  of  parish  priests  was  in  the  city  of  (xeneva,  itself, 
on  Sunda}^,  October  12,  1873.  The  adoiition  of  the  law 
was  by  the  vote  of  the  Avhole  body  of  citizens,  but  the 
election  under  it  was  to  be  made  by  the  vote  of  the 
Catholic  citizens  only  ;  and  the  trial  of  strength  between 
the  two  parties.  Liberal  and  Ultramontane,  Avas  naturally 
looked  forward  to  with  interest.  The  policy  of  abstention 
was  adopted  by  the  Ultramontanes,  and  the  severest 
spiritual  penalties  were  publicly  denounced  b}^  their 
clerg}^  against  an/  Catholic  who  should  dare  to  vote  on 
either  side.  It  Avould  be  easy  for  them,  in  case  of  a  light 
vote  (the  election  being  uncontested),  to  claim  as  their 
own  all  the  Catholic  votes  not  actually  cast.  On  the 
counting  uf  the  vote,  it  appeared  that  all  the  votes  cast 
were  for  Father  Hyacinthe  and  his  colleagues,  and  that 
they  amounted  to  nearly  one-half  of  the  registered 
Catholic  vote  of  the  city — enough  to  prove  that  on  any 
actual  trial  of  strength  it  would  be  found  that  a  powerful 
majority  of  the  Catholic  citizens  had  identified  themselves 
with  the  most  advanced  reform  of  abuses  in  their  hereditary 
church,  and  with  the  organized  religious  opposition  to  the 
Ultramontane  hierarchy. 

The  election  seated  Father  Hyacinthe  and  his  colleagues 


180  THF  CATllOLK'  REFOUMAriOX   IX   SWI TZEULAN  I). 

as  cures  of  the  Catholic  Church  of  the  city  of  Creneva, 
established  by  law.  The  old  parish  church  of  St.  Germain 
was  placed  at  their  disposal,  and  is  thronged  every  Sunday 
with  suffocating  crowds  of  worshipers.  The  great  and 
costly  church  of  Notre  Dame  will  doubtless  pass  to  the 
use  of  the  legally  recognizeil  Catholic  parish  of  Geneva, 
as  soon  as,  in  the  constant  growth  of  its  numbers,  this 
parish  hnds  it  necessar}'  to  demand  the  use  of  it. 

But  this  was  in  the  city  of  Cieneva,  Avhere,  it  may 
perhaps  be  said,  allowance  ought  to  be  made  for  the 
Protestant  influences  with  which  the  Catholic  population 
is  surrounded.  On  the  last  Sunday  in  December  a  much 
more  significant  election  was  to  take  place  in  the  old 
Savoyard  Catholic  c\ty  of  Carouge.  It  is  a  city  of  8,000 
souls,  6,000  of  whom  were  Catholic.  Both  priesthood 
and  population  were  notorious  for  their  fanatical  zeal,  so 
that  the  Reformed  Catholic  priests  had  been  able  to  go 
thither,  on  their  occasional  duties,  only  at  the  risk  of 
personal  violence.  In  fact,  it  was  the  disloyal  mob- 
provoking  fury  of  the  preaching  in  the  great  parish  church 
which  had  hastened  the  arrangements  for  the  election  here. 
The  issue  of  the  election  was  not  doubtful,  indeed,  for  the 
policy  of  abstention  was  still  enjoined  by  the  Ultramontane 
clergy;  but  th<?  utmost  pressure,  spiritual,  social,  domestic, 
and  commercial,  was  brought  to  bear  to  dissuade  men  of 
liberal  inclinations  from  voting,  and  so  cut  down  the 
moral  effect  of  the  election.  Out  of  tlie  Catholic  popula- 
tion of  0,000,  there  were  510  registered  Catholic  voters. 
The  onl}'"  candidate  for  the  place  of  cure  was  the  Abbe 
Marchal,  one  of  the  most  emineut  an<l  elot^uent  of  the 
French  mission-preachers.^     Of  the  501  registered  voters, 

1.  M.  MiircliJil  is  tlu-  antlior  of  st-veral  vt'r\  widrlv  cirtnlatt'il  rcli^i-ious  boi.k^- 


THE  CATHOLIC  REFORMATION  IN  SWITZERLAND.  181 

281  actually  cast  their  ballots  for  the  Liberal  priest.  The 
state  of  the  case  was  now  clear  to  a  demonstration.  The 
Catholic  population  of  the  Canton  of  Geneva,  even  in  the 
ancient  and  undisputed  seats  of  Catholicism,  freely 
rejected  the  Ultramontane  system  and  its  ministers. 

The  Reformed  Catholic  Church  is  now  organized  in 
only  four  of  the  great  centres  of  population  of  the  canton. 
In  the  little  agricultural  parishes,  ideas  of  reformation 
naturally  make  slower  progress  ;  and  the  leaders  in  the 
present  movement,  confident  in  the  steady  advance  which 
their  principles  are  maldng,  are  not  disposed  to  hurry 
these  parishes  in  the  work  of  reorganization. 

The  movement  of  reformation  elsewhere  in  Switzerland 
varies  from  that  in  Geneva  in  certain  respects.  It  is  older 
by  a  few  months.  It  has  been  led,  in  some  instances,  by 
the  clergy  actually  in  charge  of  the  parishes.  It  has  been 
marked  more  distinctly  by  the  interference  of  the  civil 
government. 

It  hrst  began  to  attract  attention  in  i^ovember,  1871, 
when  Professor  Herzog,  of  Olten,  and  Cure  Gschwind,  of 
Starrkirch,  both  in  the  thoroughly  Roman  Catholic 
Canton  of  Soleure,  in  German  Switzerland,  stoutly 
refused  to  give  in  their  adhesion  to  the  doctrine  of 
infallibility.  In  the  Canton  of  Lucerne,  also,  the  Abbe 
Egli  enunciated  in  no  mild  terms  his  resolution  to  adhere 
to  the  Old  Catholic  faith  rather  than  the  new  faith  of  the 
Vatican.  A  canvass  of  the  clergy  of  that  canton  showed, 
it  was  said,  the  names  of  fifty-three  ecclesiastics  who 
rejected  infallibility.     In  sundry  towns  where  the  clergy 

anil  of  an  autobiography,  just  published  under  the  title  Souvenirs  d'un 
Mmionnairi'.  This  Ixiok  is  well  worth  rt^adinf?  for  its  lively  illustrations  of 
recent  history,  and  especially  its  picture  of  life  in  the  French  priesthood. 


182  THE  CATHOLIC  REFORMATION  IX  SWITZERLAND. 

were  Ultramontane,  there  were  movements  for  the  organ- 
ization of  Old  Catholic  associations  ;  sometimes  with  the 
establishment  of  separate  worship.  Evidently  there  was 
dangerous  progress  of  demoralization  in  ecclesiastical 
discipline,  and  a  prudent  bishop  (and  most  bishops, 
except  Dupanloup,  mean  to  be  prudent)  might  well 
hesitate  as  to  the  best  course  to  be  taken.  To  enforce 
discipline  might  precipitate  rebellion  ;  to  neglect  it  might 
permit  demoralization  to  spread  indefinitely.  Bishop 
Eugenius  Lachat,  of  Bale,  took  a  cautious  middle  course. 
He  first  waited  till  the  rebellion  was  well  under  way,  and 
then  clapped  on  all  the  spiritual  censures  at  his  disposal. 
It  was  not  until  late  in  the  year  1872  that  he  ventured  to 
suspend  the  Cure  Gschwind.  But  this  time  the  whole 
village  had  identified  themselves  with  the  quarrel  of  their 
pastor,  and  the  neighboring  parishes,  including  the  city  of 
Olten,  interested  themselves  on  the  same  side.  Appeal 
was  made  to  the  government  of  the  canton — the  Catholic 
government  of  the  Catholic  Canton  of  Soleure — which 
resolved  to  sustain  the  suspended  pastor  in  his  rights 
against  the  new  dogmas;  to  petition  the  canton  to  prohibit 
the  teaching  of  them  in  the  schools  and  churches ;  and  in 
general  to  stand  by  Gschwind.  The  agitation  involved 
the  neighboring  cantons,  especiall}^  those  that  were 
associated  in  the  Diocese  of  Bale.  For  this  most  important 
of  the  Swiss  Catholic  dioceses  is  made  up  of  scA^en  cantons, 
confederated  for  the  purpose,  and  meeting  for  state 
business  relating  to  the  diocese  in  "  a  diocesan  conference." 
This  body  was  convened  in  November,  1872,  and  called 
upon  the  bishop  to  give  account  of  himself  for  excom- 
municating and  deposing  pastors  Egli  and  Uschwind.  The 
bishop  declined  to  answer,  and   the   diocesan   conference, 


THE  CATHOLIC  REFORMATION  IN  SWITZERLAND.  18o 

at  an  adjourned  meeting,  January,  1873,  withdrew  the 
act  of  approbation  under  Avhich  Bishop  Lachat  had  taken 
his  see,  declared  the  bishopric  to  be  vacant,  and  took 
effectual  measures  to  make  their  declaration  valid. 

The  Canton  of  Berne,  a  part  of  the  Diocese  of  Bale, 
took  measures  still  more  energetic.  This  Protestant 
canton,  like  that  of  Geneva,  had  had  annexed  to  it  by  the 
Congress  of  Vienna,  in  1815,  a  considerable  tract  of 
Catholic  territory,  now  known  as  the  Bernese  Jura.  The 
sixty-nine  parish  priests  of  this  region  having,  more  or 
less  against  the  will  of  their  own  flock,  refused  to  submit 
to  the  decision  of  the  (lovernment  relative  to  the  bishop 
of  the  diocese,  and  to  obey  the  authority  of  the  State  in 
other  matters,  the  cantonal  government,  in  March,  1873, 
withdrew  their  salaries,  suspended  them  from  their 
functions,  and  cited  them  before  the  Court  of  Appeal  and 
Cassation  to  show  cause  why  their  authorization  should 
not  be  revoked  ;  then,  looking  upon  these  flocks  in  the 
mountains  as  sheep  without  a  shepherd,  it  undertook,  in 
its  own  rough  but  doubtless  well-intentioned  way,  the 
cure  of  souls  and  the  functions  of  bishop.  It  is  one  of  the 
constant  surprises  of  this  movement  what  a  multitude  of 
priests  of  good  standing  in  the  Boman  Catholic  hierarchy 
are  on  hand  to  step  into  openings  made  after  this  irregular 
fashion.  The  fact  stands  in  curious  contrast,  on  the  one 
hand,  with  the  solid  and  beautiful  discipline  with  which 
the  deprived  clergy  give  up  flock,  salary,  and  parsonage, 
rather  than  yield  one  point  of  allegiance  to  their 
constituted  bishop. ;  on  the  other  hand,  with  the  long, 
unenterprising,  and  hopeless  silence  of  the  deserters  under 
the  Ultramontane  yoke,  until  the  favorable  hour  arrived 
for  coming  out  from  under  it.  These  State  appointees  are, 


184  THE  CATHOLIC  REFORMATION  IX  SWITZERLAND. 

of  course,  fiercely  attacked  at  every  vulnerable  point  by 
the  Ultramontane  press,  but  it  does  not  appear  that  they 
are  one  whit  inferior  in  personal  qualities  to  the  adherents 
of  the  bishop;  and  some  of  them,  to  judge  from  their 
former  positions,  their  academic  titles,  and  their  occasional 
printed  discourses,  are  men  of  character  and  dignity,^ 

It  ought  to  be  said  that  this  appointment  of  parish 
priests  by  the  State  Council  of  Berne  was  only  intended 
to  be  provisional.  A  general  law,  applicable  alike  to 
Protestant  and  Catholic  parishes,  was  submitted  to  the 
popular  vote  of  the  canton  in  January,  1874,  and  adopted 
by  an  immense  majority.  It  provides  for  the  election  of 
pastors  and  cures,  for  the  organization  of  a  cantonal 
synod  for  each  denomination,  and  for  a  considerable 
degree  of  parochial  independence;  and  withal  for  perfect 
liberty  to  all  persons  to  dissent  from  the  National  Churches 
and  organize  separate  congregations. 

The  extent  to  which  the  Reformation  has  proceeded 
elsewhere  in  Switzerland  can  now  be  statistically  exhibited 
in  this  article.  But  the  importance  of  the  movement 
must  not  be  inferred  from  figures,  unless  they  are  con- 
sidered in  reference  to  the  time  in  which  the  movement 
has  been  in  progress.  They  should  represent  the  work, 
not  of  three  yeS-rs,  or  even  of  one  year,  but  the  work  of  a 
few  months.  At  the  time  of  the  Swiss  convention  of  Old 
Catholics  at  Olten,  August,  23,  1873,  only  five  Catholic 
parishes  had  adopted  the  Reformed  service;  in  hve  others, 
separate  Old  Catholic  services,  had  been  organized,  and 
in    some    two    or    three  score  there  were    Old  Catholic 


1.  A  more  thorough  acquaintance  with  the  personnel  of  the  new  clerfj:y  fails  to 
Justify  the  favorable  rcniai'ks  about  their  character;  excepting  in  some 
honorable  instances. 


TFIE  CATHOLIC  REFORMATION  IN  SWITZERLAND.  185 

societies.  It  is  partly  on  the  great  initial  velocity  of  this 
movement  that  we  found  our  computations  of  its  probable 
range. 

Certain  questions  will  arise  in  the  minds  of  intelligent 
and  critical  readers  of  the  foregoing  statements,  which  we 
wish  to  furnish  all  available  materials  for  answering. 

I.  Is  this  reformation  a  movement,  bond  fide,  of  Roman 
Catholics  ;  or  is  it  mainly  a  demonstration  carried  on  by 
old  enemies  of  the  Catholic  Church,  who  seize  npon  an 
inconsiderable  disaffection  among  the  faithful  to  impose 
upon  the  public  by  using  the  Catholic  name  ? 

The  answer  will  depend  entirely  on  the  definition  given 
to  the  word  Catholic.  For,  as  all  persons  know  who  have 
had  any  experience  of  the  Romanist  controversy,  the 
polemics  of  that  faith  have  two  definitions,  and  two 
corresponding  sets  of  statistics,  one  for  assault,  and  the 
other  for  defense.  Under  one,  they  boast  of  their 
300,000,000  of  Catholics  in  the  world,  of  their  voting 
strength  in  the  republic,  of  their  vast  proportionate 
growth,  of  their  claim  upon  public  moneys,  of  their  right 
to  the  chaplaincy  of  reformatories  and  poor-houses.  Under 
the  other,  they  protest  against  the  unfairness  of  the 
statistics  of  Catholic  crime,  ignorance,  and  pauperism ; 
they  petition  for  Protestant  subscriptions  for  church- 
building  funds  for  their  feeble  little  flock  ;  they  contradict 
reports  of  variation  and  dissension  in  the  Church  by 
declaring  all  dissentients  from  their  own  views  to  be  no 
Catholics  at  all,  or  only  '^  half-C'atholics  ;"  they  repudiate 
the  association  of  useful,  but  unsavory  supporters  ;  they 
wash  their  hands  of  responsibility  for  corruptions, 
fanaticisms,  and  abuses.  According  to  the  former  defini- 
tion, the  Catholic  Church  is  glorious  for  its  numbers  and 


186  THE  CATHOLIC  REFORMATION  IN  SWITZERLAND. 

ecumenicity,  but  a  monstrously  heterogenous  and  inco- 
herent mass,  in  which  disorders,  heresies,  immoralities, 
and  schisms,  by  their  own  statement,  are  horribly 
prevalent.  According  to  the  latter  view,  the  Catholic 
Church  is  an  exquisitely  select,  pure,  and  homogeneous 
sect,  but  far  from  overwhelming  in  point  of  numbers. 

In  the  latter  sense  of  the  word,  doubtless  the  Swiss 
reform  is  not,  to  a  very  large  extent,  a  movement  of 
Catholics.  The  majority  of  the  steady-going  "  good 
Catholics,'*  who  go  frequently  to  confession  and 
occasionally  on  pilgrimages,  have  stuck  b}^  their  parish 
priests,  and  the  priests  with  few  exceptions  have  stuck  by 
the  bishops,  and  the  bishops  have  stuck  by  one  another 
and  the  Pope.  The  reformers  are  mainly  recruited  from 
the  late  followers  of  that  brilliant  and  earnest  Liberal 
party  in  the  Catholic  Church  to  which  American  Catholic 
writers  used  to  point  triumphantly  in  proof  of  the  com- 
patibility of  Catht)lic  faith  with  liberal  views  in  politics, 
but  which  was  extinguished  at  the  Vatican  Council,  and 
whose  illustrious  leader,  Montalembert,  was  stigmatized 
in  his  coffin  by  the  Pope  as  a  "  half-Catholic."  Doubtless, 
the  most  of  these  have  not  been  assiduous  in  attendance 
on  the  ministrations  of  Ultramontane  pastors,  by  Avhom 
they  have  been  djBtested  with  the  bitterness  of  a  family 
quarrel.  Probably,  also,  there  is  justice  in  the  allegation 
made  against  the  "  Swiss  Catholic"  Church  that  it  owes 
its  establishment  and  support  in  part  to  freethinkers — to 
men  who,  in  their  reaction  from  the  excesses  of  Ultra- 
montanism,  have  become  alienated  more  or  less  remotel}' 
from  the  very  substance  of  the  Christian  religion. 
Certainly,  in  a  division  between  Liberal  and  Ultramontane 


THE  CATIIOMC  REP^ORMATIOX  IX  SWITZEllLAXD.  187 

Catholics,  the  sympathies  of  this  class  of  people  would  not 
be  found  to  be  with  the  latter  party. 

But  if  the  word  Catholic  is  to  be  used  in  its  larger, 
looser,  and  more  usual  sense,  the  Swiss  Reformation  is 
unimpeachably  a  spontaneous  movement  among  the 
Catholics  themselves.  Witness,  for  example,  the  Canton 
of  Soleure,  where  the  movement  has  been  most  rapid  and 
successful.  It  is  a  Catholic  canton,  with  Catholic  churches, 
schools,  magistrates,  institutions,  usages,  and  traditions, 
and  a  population  of  60,000  Catholics  to  10,000  Protestants 
Yet  this  is  the  region  where  the  Catholics  are  getting, 
perhaps,  more  grievously  "  persecuted  '"  than  any  where 
else.  In  the  Canton  of  (leneva,  where  the  charge  is 
constantly  reiterated  that  the  organization  of  the  Catholic 
Church  has  been  revolutionized  by  Protestants,  the 
Catholic  population  is  also  considerably  in  the  majority. 
But  the  law  "  for  the  organization  of  Catholic  worship," 
though  voted  for  by  the  Protestants  as  well  as  Catholics, 
is  drawn  with  scrupulous  care  to  secure  to  the  Catholics 
alone  the  control  of  their  parish  elections.  The  interference 
of  Protestant  voters  is  prevented  by  the  thorough  system 
of  electoral  registration  here  in  use.  No  person  can  be  a 
voter  in  the  election  of  more  than  one  denomination,  and 
no  person  registered  as  a  Protestant  can  have  his  name 
entered  as  a  voter  on  the  Catholic  list  until  ttuo  years  after 
it  has  been  erased  from  the  former  list. 

On  the  whole,  it  is  matter  of  demonstration  that  the 
vast  majority  of  the  voting  citizens  of  Roman  Catholic 
descent  and  association  is  decisively  alienated  from  that 
system  which  is  represented  as  the  only  true  Catholicism, 
and  from  the  clergy  who  sustain  it.  The  interesting- 
historical  pamphlet  of  M.  Roget,   La  Qaestion   Catholiqm 


188  THE  CATHOLIC  IIEF0R:\IAT10X  IX  SWITZERLAND. 

d  Geneve,  shows  clearly,  from  a  careful  scrutiny  into  the 
course  of  popular  elections  from  1815  to  1873,  that  it 
never  has  been  otherwise  ;  that  during  the  long  period  of 
apparent  aggrandizement  of  the  Romish  party,  the  period 
of  panic  among  Protestant  alarmists,  of  priestly  swagger 
and  prophecy,  of  political  trading  in  ^^  the  Catholic  vote,"' 
there  has  never  been  any  "  Catholic  \ote,'*  of  any  extent^ 
to  trade  in  ;  and  that,  with  all  their  promises  and  threats^ 
the  clergy  have  been  equally  harmless  as  political  enemies^ 
and  useless  as  friends. 

II.  To  what  extent  is  this  a  spiritually  religious  move- 
ment, and  in  what  measure  is  it  impelled  b}^  lower  and 
secular  motives  ? 

One  who  looks  to  find  in  the  Catholic  Reformation  of 
the  nineteenth  century  a  complete  parallel  to  the 
Protestant  Reformation  of  the  sixteenth,  with  its  profound 
awakening  of  the  religious  nature,  and  its  earnest^ 
thorough,  and  enthusiastic  studies  in  theology,  will  be 
disappointed.  If  he  looks  further,  for  a  display  on  the 
part  of  the  reformers,  of  the  rancorous  and  sometimes 
malignant  passions  which  frightfully  deform  the  records  of 
three  centuries  ago,  he  will  be  happily  disappointed.  The 
haggard  dyspeptic  faces  of  the  old  ( reneva  reformers,  as 
they  look  down  from  the  walls  of  the  city  library,  are  not 
more  in  contrast  with  the  serene  and  humane  though 
earnest  countenances  of  the  Reformed  Catholic  pastors^ 
than  the  temper  of  the  former  with  that  of  the  latter. 
Happily,  it  is  not  permitted  to  infer  a  lack  of  religious 
zeal  and  fervor  from  a  lack  of  acrimony  in  dispute.  So 
far  as  one  may  judge  from  the  words  and  acts  of  the  new 
Catholic  clergy  of  Ceneva,  the  religious  spirit  of  their 
work  is  pure,  affectionate,  fervent.     Every  one  who   has. 


THE  CATHOLIC  REFORMATION  IN   SWITZERLAND.  189 

known  the  preaching  of  the  illustrious  chief  of  this 
company^  as  well  before  as  after  his  rupture  with  the 
Roman  hierarchy,  knows  what  is  his  poAver  to  inspire  the 
great  articulated  osseous  structure  of  the  Latin  theologj^ 
with  the  breath  of  evangelic  life,  so  using  the  terms  of 
that  wonderful  system  as  that  good  and  holy  men  of  every 
confession  should  find  them  to  come  very  near  the 
expression  of  their  own  religious  thought  and  feeling. 
This  unction  is  upon  him  still,  and  the  spirit  of  his  own 
preaching  is  that  of  his  colleagues.  And  if  the  substance 
of  their  doctrine  tends  to  be  too  Protestant  (in  the 
etymological  meaning  of  the  word) — if  it  deals  at  present 
more  in  negation  of  error  and  abuse,  than  in  foundation 
and  construction,  the  fact  is  necessarily  incident'  to  the 
present  stage  of  the  reform. 

But  if  one  could  explore  the  motives  which  have 
prevailed  in  the  minds  of  this  great  mass  of  Eoman 
Catholic  laymen  to  cooperate  in  the  reorganization  of  their 
Church,  it  is  impossible  to  see  that  other  considerations 
have  had  their  influence,  as  well  as  simple  religious  feeling 
and'  conviction.  In  particular,  the  honorable  pride  of 
♦Swiss  patriotism,  jealous  of  any  attempt  from  abroad  to 
infrige  upon  the  independent  sovereignty  of  the  little 
republic,  has  been  sorely  wounded  by  the  defiant  assertion 
on  the  part  of  the  clergy  of  a  paramount  allegiance  to  a 
foreign  power,  and  their  insolent  infractions  of  the  laws 
of  the  land  to  which  they  have  sworn  fidelity.  Their  not 
infrequent  hints  of  a  possible  recourse  to  the  interference 
of  France  to  enforce  the  observance  of  the  rights  of  Swiss 
Catholics  have  won  them  no  friends  even  in  their  own 
confession  ;  and  the  recent  discovery  of  a  plot  to  organize 
an   "  Appeal  of  the  Swiss  Catholics  to  Foreign  Powers," 


190  THE  CATHOLIC  REFORMATION  IN  SWITZERLAND. 

has  excited  in  the  Swiss  people  of  every  creed  an 
indignation  which  not  even  the  comical  absurdity  of  the 
whole  affair  is  sufficient  to  assuage.  No  doubt,  the 
pressure  of  patriotic  and  political  considerations  has 
affected  the  Catholic  laity,  as  well  as  their  honest  disgust 
at  the  new  dogmas  and  measures  of  the  Ultramontane 
clergy ;  and  yet,  in  the  number  of  worshippers  in  their 
churches,  and  the  number  of  communicants  at  their 
sacraments,  the  new  clergy  find  a  sort  of  encouragement 
Avhich  the  number  of  votes  at  an  election  by  no  means 
furnishes. 

III.  AVhat  are  the  tendencies  and  prospects  of  the 
movement  ? 

On  one  point,  anxious  Protestants  may  be  reassured. 
The  chances  of  a  reunion  of  the  Swiss  Catholics  to  the 
See  of  Rome  are  exceedingly  slender.  What  may  take 
place,  when  the  long-delayed  departure  of  Pius  the  Ninth 
shall  at  last  touch  the  spring  of  ecclesiastico-political 
changes  in  every  part  of  Christendom,  it  is,  of  course, 
impossible  definitely  to  predict.  It  is  possible  to  imagine 
that  the  conclave  may  find  themselves,  by  mistake,  as  in 
1846,  with  a  Liberal  Pope  on  their  hands.  But  this  mistake 
is  not  likely  to  be  made  twice  in  succession.  The  con- 
tingency of  a  plurality  of  Popes,  as  m  the  days  of  the 
(treat  Schism,  is  far  more  probable.  The  event  of  a 
second  Council  of  Constance  is  hardly  conceivable  in  our 
days.  Meanwhile,  the  Swiss  Reformers  are  among  the 
most  sincere  well-wishers  for  the  good  health  and  long 
life  of  the  present  Pope.  To  those  Avho,  in  their  haste  to 
see  the  denouement  of  the  present  singular  complications, 
express  the  wish  that  History  would  hurry  itself  a  little, 
they  answer  with  unaffected  deprecations  of  any  change 


THE  CATHOLIC  REFORMATION  IN  SWITZERLAND.  191 

ill  the  Papacy.     His  present  Holiness  is  doing  their  work 
fur  them  as  well  as   it   could  possibly  be  done.     A  little 
abatement  of  fanaticism,    a    little    show    of    liberality^ 
or    even   of  discretion,   at   Rome,    would    be    a    serious 
obstacle  in  what  not  seems  to  them  the  only  hopeful  way 
of  Catholic  Eeform.     To  the   thoughtful  leaders  among 
them,  the  union  of  the  Universal  Church  about  the  see  of 
one  primatial  bishop,  the  first  among  his  peers,  is  still  the 
cherished  ideal   of  Christian   order — cherished   the  more 
fondly  in  their  hopes  for  the  future,  by  as  much  as   their 
dream  of  its  present  realization  has   been   dashed,   by  as 
much  as  they  see  the  ideal  centre  of  universal  love   and 
loyalty  transformed  into  an  actual  seat  of  despotic  power, 
the  spring  of  unnumbered  schisms,  instead  of  the  nucleus 
of  union.     But  among   the  mass  of  the   Catholic  laity  of 
Switzerland    the    predominant   feeling   in   view    of    the 
rupture  with  Rome  is  manifestly  that  of  unmixed  relief  at 
being  rid  of  the  incubus  of  a  foreign  yoke.     They  are  too 
near  to  Rome,  and  too  well  informed  of  its   affairs,   to 
enjo}^  the  thought   of  being  governed   in   all   their  most 
sacredly    personal    affairs    by    the   edicts    of    a    knot    of 
intriguing  Italians.  Even  if  the  temper  of  the  Swiss  were 
less  indisposed   than  it  is   to  invite   foreign  intervention 
from  any  quarter,  they  might  be  excused  for  declining   to 
recognize  their  trans-Alpine  next-neighbors  as  the  chosen 
people,  holding  by  divine  appointment  the  control  of  the 
destinies    of    Christendom.      The  mood   of  the    popular 
Catholic  mind  might  be   inferred   from    the    murmur    of 
approval    which    ran    through    the    crowd    in    the   great 
church    of  Carouge    when   the   Abbe     Marchal,    in    his 
inaugural  sermon,  declared  :     "  I  bear  about  with  me  a 
double  title  to  your  affection  and  fidelity  ;  first,  as  elected 


192  THE  CATHOLIC  REFORMATION  IN  SWITZERLAND. 

by  the   suffrages   of  the  Christian  people;  secondl}^,  as 
excommunicated  b}'  the  Vatican.'" 

But  the  attitude  of  the  Swiss  Catholics  is  not  one  of  mere 
protest  against  the  last  innovations  and  of  severance  from 
E-ome.     The}^  have  ceased  to  be  an  "  Old  Catholic"  party^ 
in  the  sense  which  those  words  were   originall}^  meant  to 
convey.  The  first  idea  of  the  Munich  and  Bonn  professors 
was  to  call  a  halt,  and  make  a  fixed   stand   at  the  point 
which  the  Church  had  reached  before  the  Vatican  decrees 
of  July,  1870  ;  and  it  was  a  little  odd  to   see   the  eager- 
ness   with    Avhich    many    of   the    extremest    Protestants 
rushed  forward  to  tender  them  the  right  hand   of  fellow- 
ship on  the  platform  of  the  doctrine  and   discipline  of  the 
Council  of  Trent.  But  both  in  German}^  and  in   Switzer- 
land, and  especially  in  the  latter,   they   have   found   that 
there  is  no  level  place  to  stand  on  at  that  point,  and  that 
their  choice  is  between   sliding  downward  and  climbing 
back.     On  questions  of  discipline  they  have  no  difliculty 
in   saj^ing    that  this  is  a  matter  which  the   Church  has 
always  held  to  be  variable   and   "  reformable  ;"  and  that 
until   the    Swiss    Church   is  reorganized     with    its    due 
authorities  of  bishops  and  synod  to  reform  the   discipline, 
there  must  be  provisional  reform  of  manifest  abuses.     On 
questions  of  doctrine  there   is   more  difficulty.      "  Once  a 
doctrine,  always  a  doctrine,*'  is  the  principle  both  of  old 
Catholics    and    new.      And    while    the    Keformers,    with 
undoubted    sincerity,    profess    their    submission    to    all 
authentic  doctrinal  traditions  of  the  Church  Catholic,  and 
all  decrees  of  councils  truly  ecumenical,  the}^  declare  that 
the  time  is  at  hand  when  the  discrimination  should   begin 
to  be  made,  under  some  just  authority,  between  the   real 
dognuis  of  the  Church  and  the    ''  dogmas    which   are   not 


THE  CATHOLIC  REFORMATION  IN  SWITZERLAND.  193 

dogmas,  but  modern  superfetations  '" — between  genuinely 
free  and  ecumenical  councils,  and  the  latrocinia  and 
hid'ibria  which  claim  to  be  councils. 

The  position  of  the  Swiss  Catholics  as  it  was  a  few 
months  since  is  distinctly  defined  in  the  Resolutions  of  the 
convention  at  Olten,  August  31,  1873.  After  projecting 
the  reconstitution  of  the  Svviss  Church  in  conformity  alike 
with  apostolic  usage  and  with  the  republican  usages  of 
the  country,  the  convention  declared  : 

"Finally,  that  the  meaning,  tendencies,  and  bearing  of  the 
Syllabus  of  1861,  and  of  the  decrees  of  1870  upon  papal  infallibility, 
are  sufticientl}^  known  and  understood  ;  and  that  the  moment  is 
come  for  entering  resolutely  upon  the  practical  business  of 
reformation. 

"  But  it  seems  best  that  reformation  should  begin  in  matters  of 
outward  worship  :  and  in  this  field,  to  destroy  the  abuses  which  are 
in  direct  opposition  to  the  teaching  of  Jesus  and  his  apostles — 
abuses  which  stand  in  the  way  of  religious  tolerance,  of  good 
feeling  between  different  religious  communions,  and  of  the 
providential  union  of  the  great  family  of  mankind. 

"  The  assembly  therefore  expresses  the  hope  that  in  Old  Catholic 
towns,  the  authorities  and  the  faithful  will  at  once  endeavor  to 
effect  the  following  reforms  : 

"  1.  The  adoption  of  the  language  of  the  people  for  all  parts  of 
divine  service,  whether  in  the  church  or  out  of  it,  except  the  mass, 
the  language  and  ritual  of  which  are  to  be  determined  by  a  future 
diocesan  synod. 

"  2.  The  simplification  and  improvement  of  public  worship  and 
divine  service. 

"  3.  The  suppression  of  all  fees,  taxes,  gratifications,  etc.,  paid 
for  religious  services,  whether  in  the  church  or  out  of  it,  including 
charges  made  for  masses.  Annual  masses  for  the  dead  wil 
continue  to  be  celebrated,  but  the  cost  of  them  will  be  charged  to 
the  income  of  the  church.  On  the  other  hand,  there  should  be  a 
suitable  increase  in  the  salary  of  the  ecclesiastics  and  other 
servants  of  the  church. 

13 


194  THE  CATHOLIC  REFORMATION  IN  SWITZERLAND. 

"  4.  The  suppression  of  all  payment  for  dispensations,  of  whatever 
sort. 

"  5.  The  prohibition  of  all  levying  of  Peter's  pence,  and  trading- 
in  indulgences  and  like  matters,  and  all  collections  for  the 
Propaganda. 

"  6.  The  utmost  possible  reduction  of  confraternities,  pilgrimagesy 
penances,  and  of  the  adoration  of  images. 

"  7.  The  restriction  of  processions  and  other  like  ceremonies  to 
the  interior  ot  the  church,  and  its  immediate  surroundings.  The 
suppression  of  processions  to  a  distance. 

"  8.  The  regulation  by  law  of  whatever  concerns  the  hindrances 
to  marriage  established  by  the  Catholic  Church,  in  so  far  as  these 
hindrances  are  made  the  occasion  of  dispensations  to  be  paid  for 
in  money. 

"  9.  The  mitigation  of  the  conditions  and  guarantees  required  of 
ecclesiastics  for  the  celebration  of  mixed  marriages. 

"  10.  The  obligation  of  priests  to  give  their  benediction  to 
marriages  celebrated  civilly,  whenever  it  is  demanded. 

"  11.  The  admission,  at  baptism,  of  sponsors  belonging  to  other 
Christian  communions. 

"  12.  The  secularization  of  cemeteries. 

"  13.  The  obligation  of  priests  to  perform  the  rites  of  the  Church 
at  all  burials,  without  distinction,  if  the  family  of  the  deceased 
desire  it. 

"  14.  That  the  religious  ceremonies  shall  be  the  same  at  all 
funerals,  whether  of  rich  or  poor,  strong  or  weak. 

"  15.  The  establishment  of  undenominational  schools. 

"  16.  The  aiding,  of  students  in  theology  who  intend  to  undertake 
the  cure  of  souls  ift  Old  Catholic  towns." 

This  has  not  quite  the  ring  of  Luther's  Wittenberg 
Theses,  certainly  ;  but  is  good  as  far  as  it  goes.  We  find 
an  indication  not  only  of  the  difference  of  place  and 
person,  but  of  the  lapse  of  a  few  months  of  time,  to  compare 
the  foregoing  manifest  with  the  four  points  under  which 
Father   Hyacinthe,    in    a    familiar    discourse,    recently 


THE  CATHOLIC  REFORMATION  IX   SWITZERLAND.  195 

introduced  the  work  of  the  reformation  of  Catholic 
discipline  to  the  congregation  of  a  country  church  : 

1 .  The  suppression  of  compulsory  confession  ;  2.  The 
liberation  of  the  clergy  from  enforced  celibacy ;  3.  The 
election  of  pastors  by  the  people ;  4.  The  emancipation 
of  the  Church  from  its  bondage  to  dead  languages  by  the 
use  of  the  language  of  the  people  in  a  liturgy  in  which 
they  speak  to  God,  and  in  a  translation  of  the  Bible  in 
which  God  may  speak  to  them. 

The  French  Liturgy  of  the  Mass  now  in  use  in  (reneva 
is  full  of  suggestions  as  to  the  tendencies  of  the 
reorganized  churches.  It  is,  as  the  preface  declares, 
simply  a  translation  from  the  various  Catholic  liturgies, 
and  more  particularly  from  those  of  Rome  and  Paris,  and 
from  the  Ritual  of  Bishop  Wessemberg,  which  is  used  in 
many  parishes  of  (ierman  Switzerland.  An  historical 
introduction,  translated  from  a  work  of  Prof.  Priedrich  of 
Munich,  insists  upon  several  points  of  interest : 

"  In  all  the  ancient  liturgies  the  real  presence  of  the  body  and 
blood  of  Jesus  Christ  is  enunciated  most  clearly  and  explicitly.  .  .  . 
As  to  the  manner  in  which  this  presence  is  effected,  whether,  for 
example,  it  is  by  means  of  transubstantiation,  there  is  nothing  said 
whatever,  either  in  the  ancient  or  in  the  present  liturgies.  The  same 
silence  prevails  as  to  the  nature  of  the  sacrifice  of  the  body  and  blood 
of  Jesus  Christ.  .  .  .  It  even  seems  doubtful,  if  we  confine  ourselves 
to  the  precise  words  of  the  Roman  mass,  as  they  stand  to-day, 
whether  the  sacrament  of  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ  are 
designated  in  it  as  a  sacrifice;  for  the  expression  "oblation" 
relates  really  to  the  (unconsecrated)  gifts  of  bread  and  ivine  offered 
to  the  church  by  the  faithful.  '  Let  these  offerings  become  for  us 
the  body  and  blood  of  Jesus  Christ '  is  said  before  the  consecration ; 
and  the  '  pure,  holy,  and  spotless  victim'  of  the  offertory  is,  after 
the  consecration,  'the  holy  bread  of  everlasting  life,  and  the  cup  of 
eternal  salvation.'" 


196  THE  CATHOLIC  REFORMATION  IN  SWITZERLAND. 

Obviously,  the  most  advanced  party  in  the  English 
Church  and  the  advanced  party  in  the  Swiss  Catholic 
Church — advancing  in  opposite  directions — have  met  and 
passed  each  other,  some  time  ago. 

The  introduction  shows  further  that  the  present  practice 
of  the  Roman  Church  concerning  the  use  of  dead 
languages,  private  masses,  the  communion  under  one 
kind,  and  of  unfermented  wafers,  is  contrary  to  the 
authority  of  Catholic  antiquity. 

But  the  foot-notes  appended  to  the  text  of  the  liturgy, 
to  guard  the  mind  of  the  worshiper  from  error,  are  even 
more  significant.  For  example,  the  following,  under  the 
words  of  the  confession  :  "  I  confess  to  Grod  Almight}^,  to 
the  blessed  Virgin  Mary,  to  Saint  Michael  the  Archangel, 
etc.,  etc.,  to  all  the  saints,  and  you  to  my  brethren." 

"  Sin  is  an  offense  against  the  holiness  of  the  Christian  com- 
munity as  well  as  against  God's  holiness  :  therefore  it  is  that  the 
confession  of  sins  is  not  addressed  exclusively  to  God,  but  also  to 
the  whole  church,  in  heaven  as  well  as  on  earth." 

And  upon  the  prayer  of  the  priest  when  he  kisses  the 
altar — "  We  pray  thee,  0  Lord,  by  the  merits  of  thy 
saints"  : 

"  The  priest  here  affirms  the  intimate  fellowship  which  unites  all 
the  members  of  Christ's  body  the  Church.  The  merits  of  the  saints, 
that  is  of  all  true  Christians,  are  the  merits  of  Jesus  Christ  himself, 
'  who  liveth  in  them,'  as  Saint  Paul  says.  They  are  all  of  grace, 
so  that,  in  the  words  of  the  Catholic  Liturgy  according  to 
St.  Augustine,  Mn  crowning  our  merits  God  crowneth  his  own 
gifts.'  " 

And  on  the  Filioqiie  in  the  Creed : 

"  The  addition  of  these  words  and  from  the  Son  undoubtedly 
expresses  a  great  doctrinal  truth.     But  this  addition  was  not  made 


THE  CATHOLIC  REFORMATION  IN  SWITZERLAND.  197 

by  competent  authority,  that  of  an  ecumenical  council,  and  has 
consequently  been  a  potent  cause  of  division  between  the  churches 
of  the  East  and  West.  This  point  is  one  of  those  which  demands 
attention  in  the  future  revision  of  our  liturgy." 

And  at  the  elevation  of  the  host : 

"  It  is  important  to  remark  that  the  adoration  which  takes  place 
after  the  consecration  is  addressed,  not  to  the  bread  and  the  wine, 
but  to  Jesus  Christ,  who  has  become  thenceforth  mysteriously  and 
really  present  in  the  sacrament." 

Wherein  the  doctrine  above  expressed  differs  from  that 
doctrine  of  'Hhe  mystical  presence"  which  was  formulated 
in  (xeneva  by  John  Calvin  three  hundred  years  ago,  we 
are  at  a  loss  to  say. 

There  need  be  no  doubt,  then,  that  the  leaders  in  the 
Swiss  Catholic  Church  are  in  earnest  in  their  purposes  of 
reform,  and  that  in  a  right  direction.  A  more  doubtful 
question,  which  gives  just  anxiety  to  some  friendly 
observers,  is  whether  the  spirit  of  reform,  carrying  these 
churches  away  from  their  ancient  moorings,  may  not 
sweep  them  away  to  just  such  disastrous  shipwreck  as 
has  in  many  instances  befallen  the  national  Protestant 
Churches  of  Switzerland,  in  some  of  which  the  resurrection 
of  Christ,  and  the  life  of  the  world  to  come,  are  said  to  be 
openly  denied.  The  fervid  piety  of  such  a  man  as 
Hyacinthe,  whose  personal  influence  is  supreme  over  the 
framing  of  the  churches  of  the  Canton  of  Greneva,  is  a 
sufficient  guarantee  of  their  soundness  so  long  as  he  lives. 
But  a  man  dcj^s  not  live  so  long  as  an  institution  ;  and 
it  is  not  to  be  denied  that  there  is  something  in  the  form  of 
this  reorganization  of  the  Swiss  Catholic  churches,  in  their 
relation  to  State   patronage,   their  present   emancipation 


198  THF  CATHOLIC  REFORMATION  IN  SWITZERLAND. 

from  hierarchical  oversight,  their  emphatic  assertion  of 
parochial  autonomy,  which  may  justify  grave  doubts  of 
their  future  stability  in  the  Christian  faith.  One  finds 
among  them  no  recognition  of  that  Puritan  principle  of 
committing  the  control  of  the  spiritualities  of  the  church 
to  the  brotherhood  of  spiritual  men,  as  distinguished  from 
the  merely  nominal  Christians,  with  which  ecclesiastical 
independency  has  always  been  associated,  and  which 
is  probably  essential  to  its  safe  working.  If  the 
reform  shall  fail,  it  will  probably  be  in  consequence 
of  the  remitting  of  religious  questions  to  the  universal 
suffrage  of  the  nominally  Catholic  population.  But 
as  to  the  seriousness  of  this  peril,  it  is  premature  to 
pronounce  until  the  organization  of  the  Swiss  hierarchy  is 
completed  by  the  consecration  of  its  bishops,  and  the 
complete  framework  of  the  reconstituted  church  is  open 
to  view.^ 

lY.  One  question  remains,  not  inferior  in  practical 
interest  to  the  foregoing  :  To  what  extent  can  we  compute 
the  future  of  Homan  Catholic  institutions  in  the  United 
States,  from  the  course  which  they  have  taken  in 
Switzerland  ? 

On  many  superficial  points,  as  we  have  alreadj^  hinted, 
the  historical  analogy  between  the  two  countries  is  very 
striking.  The  epoch  (1815)  at  which  a  sudden  accession 
of  Catholic  population  was  acquired  to  the  Protestant 
republics    of   Berne    and     Greneva     coincides    with    the 

1.  The  perils  here  indicated  were  stated  with  f?reat  force  by  M.  Ernest 
Naville,  the  eminent  writer  and  pliilosopher,  in  a  memorial  to  the  Government 
of  Geneva  ajjainst  tlic  (istahlishuient  ot  the  Liberal  Catliolic  Church  by  law. 
I  am  un>ler  great  obligation  to  M.  Naville  for  tha  opportunity  of  reading  his 
argument  in  manuscript. 

P.S.— The  subsequent  history  has  fully  Justilied  his  worst  misgivings. 


THE  CATHOLIC  REFORMATIOX  IX  SWITZERLAND.  199 

beginning  of  the  Catholic  migration  to  America,  On  both 
sides  of  the  water  has  been  the  same  anti-popery 
agitation,  the  same  organization  of  Orange  and  Know- 
Nothing  hjdges  and  of  proselyting  societies,  the  same 
concessions  and  cajoleries  of  politicians  toward  ^'  the 
Catholic  vote/'  the  same  boastful  predictions  on  the  part 
of  the  Eomish  clergy  of  the  speedy  conquest  of  the 
country  to  the  obedience  of  the  Pope.  In  Switzerland,  in 
the  very  height  of  these  most  sanguine  hopes,  the  towering 
structure  that  was  in  building  by  the  Ultramontane 
hierarchy  has  suddenly  fallen,  and  on  inspection  we  find 
that  it  never  had  foundation  nor  strength  of  walls.  Does 
this  justify  us  in  prognosticating  a  like  fate  for  plans  and 
hopes  in  the  United  States  ? 

M.  Amedee  Eoget,  in  the  capital  historical  pamphlet 
which  we  have  already  quoted,  and  the  title  of  which 
-stands  at  the  beginning  of  this  article,  asserts,  and  goes 
far  toward  proving,  that  the  present  result  is  the  natural 
and  inevitable  consequence,  which  might  have  been 
predicted  and  was  predicted,  of  exposing  Catholic  people 
and  institutions  to  the  influence  of  light  and  liberty  in  a 
free  republic.  Every  facility  was  given  to  the  priesthood 
to  train  their  flocks  in  the  way  in  Avhich  they  should  go. 
Religious  schools,  under  the  conduct  of  the  secular  priests, 
and  under  the  teaching  brotherhoods  and  sisterhoods, 
have  been  tolerated  or  sustained  by  the  State  ;  demor- 
alizing influences  have  been  warded  off  from  their  sheep- 
folds  by  treaty  stipulations  forbidding  Protestant  churches 
in  the  Catholic  towns ;  and  yet  out  of  their  clerical 
schools  have  graduated  the  civil  leaders  of  the  Catholic 
Reform,  and  their  Catholic  communes  give  majorities 
against  their  own  clergymen  ! 


200  THE  CATHOLIC  REFORMATION  IN  SWITZERLAND. 

One  diiference  between  the  two  situations  lies  in  the 
fact  that  in  Switzerland  there  has  been  legal  and  govern- 
mental recognition  of  the  church  relations  of  the  citizen, 
so  that  one  born  a  Catholic  has  been  counted  a  Catholic 
until  by  some  formal  act  he  has  abandoned  or  transferred 
his  church-allegiance.  As  of  old,  Peter  has  been  using 
one  of  his  "  two  swords  '' — the  one  he  has  borrowed  of 
the  civil  magistrate — a  little  more  freely  than  is  good  for 
him.  This  bulk  of  Catholic  believers,  thus  given  over  to 
the  training  of  the  clergy,  and  imputed  to  them  in  the 
census  returns,  was  extremely  glorious  to  tell  of,  but 
inconvenient  to  the  last  degree  when  it  was  allowed  to 
vote.  Better  have  disowned  it  long  before  as  "  free- 
thinking,"'  or  freemason,  or  "  half-Catholic,"  than  have 
boasted  of  it  for  fifty  years  to  be  voted  down  by  it  on  the 
fifty-first !  One  result  of  the  absolute  ignoring  of  religious 
distinctions  on  the  part  of  the  United  States  Grovernmenty 
so  that  one  becoming  indifferent  or  disaff'ected  toward  his 
religious  communion  comes  off"  from  it  without  fuss  or 
violence,  has  doubtless  been  the  loss  to  the  Eoman 
Catholic  Church  in  the  United  States  of  millions  of  souls 
that  Avere  hers  by  birth  or  inheritance,  but  over  whom  her 
pastors  have  mourned  as  given  up  to  Protestantism  or 
some  other  form!  of  perdition.  But  it  has  left  under  the 
charge  of  the  priesthood  a  picked  and  tried  and  still 
formidably  numerous  company,  who  stay  in  their  Church 
for  conviction's  sake  and  conscience'  sake,  or  for  something 
much  like  these,  and  in  which  the  elements  of  disaffection 
do  not  stay  long  enough  to  accumulate  and  become 
dangerous.  Even  if  there  were  ever  opportunity  for  voting- 
in  the  Koman  Catholic  Church  in  America,  there  need 
be  little  fear  of  an  anti-clerical  party  in  a  community  so 


THE  CATHOLIC  REFORMATION  IN  SWITZERLAND.  201 

composed.  But,  thanks  to  the  generosity  of  the  American 
States,  in  granting  to  the  Catholic  bishops  such  an 
absolute  control  over  all  church  property  as  is  unheard  of 
in  all  the  lands  of  Catholic  Christendom,  the  last  suspicion 
of  peril  from  the  action  of  a  disaffected  laity  is  completely 
extinguished.  Men  are  sure  not  to  vote  wrong  if  they  are 
not  allowed  to  vote  at  all.  In  Switzerland,  the  voice  of 
the  strong  majority  of  the  Catholic  laity  has  prevailed 
against  the  almost  unanimous  resolution  of  the  hierarchy. 
In  America,  to  such  a  degree  do  the  laws  on  the  one  hand, 
and  the  absence  of  legislation  on  the  other,  favor  the 
practice  of  absolute  personal  government  on  the  part  of 
the  bishop,  that  the  unanimous  protest  of  all  the  priests 
and  all  the  people  would  have  no  more  influence  against 
the  decision  of  his  lordship  than  the  whistling  of  the  wind. 
He  could  lock  the  doors  of  his  churches  against  clergy  and 
people  alike,  and  turn  to  the  stones  of  the  street  to  raise 
up  children  to  Abraham.  In  Switzerland,  as  elsewhere 
in  Europe,  the  necessity  of  permission  from  the  State, 
either  for  the  installing  or  for  the  removal  of  pastor  or 
bishop,  imposes  something  like  a  constitutional  limitation 
on  the  absolution  of  hierarchical  government,  making 
possible  a  certain  degree  of  liberty.  In  the  United  States, 
the  absolute  influence  of  the  bishop  over  every  clerk  and 
layman  in  his  diocese,  is  limited  only  by  his  own  fear  of 
the  bowstring  which,  being  amovibilis  ad  nntiim,  he  is 
liable  any  moment  to  have  sent  to  him  from  the  Sublime 
Porte  of  the  Propaganda  College.  The  narrowest 
uniformity  can  be  enforced  through  all  ranks  of  the 
Church.  This  is  the  explanation  of  the  puzzling  paradox 
that  in  the  freest  and  most  enlightened  country  in  the 
world,  the  Catholic  Church  should  be  more  Ultramontane 


202  THE  CATHOLIC  IIEFORMATIOX  IN  .SWITZERLAND. 

than  any  where  else  in  Christendom.  It  is  because  the 
Italian  Pontiff  is  absolutely  free  to  enforce  his  policy  in 
America,  by  all  spiritual  penalties,  and  by  pecuniar}- 
sanctions  up  to  the  entire  value  of  the  church  property, 
and  because  all  Catholics  of  liberal  leanings,  who  might 
otherwise  be  a  leaven  of  liberalism  in  the  lump,  are 
absolutely  free  to  leave  the  Church  if  they  do  not  like  it, 
and  free  to  do  nothing  else  under  heaven.  And  the  more 
the}^  leave  it  the  more  unanimously  and  intensely  anti- 
liberal  becomes  the  residuum. 

This  continued  wasting  and  dribbling  at  the  safety- 
valve  saves  much  of  the  danger  of  a  future  revolution  of 
the  Roman  Church  in  America,  or  a  splitting  into  two 
sects.  But  it  also  prevents  it  from  ever  being  any  thing 
more  than  a  sect  itself ;  a  sect  formidable,  no  doubt,  for 
numbers,  for  organization,  for  the  concentration  of  its 
enormous  real  estate  under  the  power  of  a  single  Italian 
prelate,  and  for  its  curious  and  perilous  facility  of 
coalition  with  all  manner  of  Jacobinism  and  demagogy, 
but  still  a  sect;  for  it  is  sheer  impossibility  that  an 
institution  which  is  not  broad  enough  to  contain  two 
parties  should  ever  succeed  in  holding  within  its  pale  any 
large  fraction  of  a  free  people.  From  time  to  time,  the 
possessors  of  unlimited  power  will  be  tempted,  despite 
their  habitual  prudence,  to  make  injudicious  use  of  it,  and 
there  will  result  defections,  more  or  less  numerous,  of 
laymen,  or  of  priests.  But  the  corporation  will  continue, 
preserved  by  the  peculiar  structure  of  American  laws 
from  any  danger  of  subversion  ;  and  although  it  may 
fluctuate  in  numbers,  its  corporate  weMth  can  not  but  go 
(m  steadily  and  rapidly  increasing. 

One    more    point    of   difference    between    the    United 


THE  CATHOLIC  KEFORMATIOX  IN  SWITZERLAND.    203 

States  and  Switzerland^  which  has  favored  the  development 
of  the  Catholic  Reformation  in  the  latter  country,  is 
worth  mentioning  for  the  salutary  and  Christian  lesson 
which  it  conve3^s.  Despite  the  violence  of  some  anti- 
popery  zealots,  and  the  social  exclusiveness  encouraged 
by  the  Ultramontane  priests,  there  have  subsisted  between 
the  citizens  of  the  two  communions  relations,  on  the 
whole,  of  personal  and  social  good-fellowship.  Not  but 
that  there  has  been  some  natural  disposition  on  the  part 
of  the  old  citizens  to  look  down  on  the  palpabl)^  inferior 
intelligence,  culture,  and  prosperity  of  the  new — and  some 
sense  of  injury  on  the  part  of  the  latter  toward  the 
former  ;  but  that,  on  the  whole,  the  differences  of  religious 
belief  have  been  forgotten  in  the  mutual  relations  of 
citizen  and  neighbor.  Doubtless,  this  is  easier  between 
people  of  like  lineage  and  antecedents  than  between  alien 
races.  But  in  the  United  States,  the  causes  Avhich  once 
enforced  a  wide  social  separation  between  the  Catholic 
Irish  and  the  Protestant  American  dwindle  in  the  second 
generation,  and  vanish  in  the  third.  It  is  not  onl}^  a  sin, 
it  is  a  woful  folly,  if  the  effect  is  suffered  to  outlive  the 
causes.  For  that  free,  kindly,  equal  intermingling  with 
Protestants,  in  school,  in  business,  in  politics,  in  society, 
and  especially  in  acts  of  charity,  which  it  is  the  effort  of 
Ultramontane  policy  to  prevent,  is  the  most  potent  of  all 
influences  to  produce,  we  need  not  say  proselytes,  but 
liberal  Catholics  ;  and  liberal  Catholic,  according  to  the 
definitions  of  the  Vatican,  is  equivalent,  for  all  practical 
ends,  to  no  Catholic  at  all.  Certainly,  for  all  the  purposes 
of  good  citizenship  in  the  republic,  it  is  much  more  than 
equivalent  to  illiberal  Protestant. 


204  CATHOLIC  REFORM  IN  NORTHERN  SWITZERLAND. 


IX. 


CATHOLIC  REFORM  IN  NORTHERN 
SWITZERLAND. 


THREE  LETTERS  IN  THE    "  CHRISTIAN  UNION. 


LETTER    I. 


Swidai/,  April  26,  1874. 

SaIGNELEGIER,  IN  THE  BeRNESE  JuRA, 

Your  '^  own  co-respondent"  has  spent  a  strange  Sunday 
in  search  of  the  truth  touching  the  so-called  Catholic 
Reformation  in  Switzerland.  The  way  of  reaching  this 
secluded  corner  of  the  earth  is  to  go  to  Neuchatel,  and 
from  that  charming,  quaint  old  town — the  New  Castle  of 
which  is  thirteen  centuries  old,  and  shows  the  mark  of 
each  of  them,  down  to  the  superb-  restorations  of  the 
present — and  to  take  the  new  switch-back  railroad, 
unknown  to  tourists,  which  zig-zags  up   the  flank  of  the 


CATHOLIC  REFORM  IX  NORTHERN  SWITZERLAND.  205 

Jura.  The  fair  lake  spreads  out  beneath  you  as  you  rise ; 
the  apparently  high  mountains  on  the  other  side  shrink 
and  dwindle,  and  the  really  high  ones  go  towering  higher 
and  higher,  till  all  the  eastern  and  southern  horizon  is 
walled  around  with  snowy  peaks,  and  the  remotest 
perspective  is  closed  at  last  by  the  white  pyramid  of 
Mont  Blanc.  You  go  tunneling  through  many  dismal  cliffs 
of  "  Jurassic  limestone,"  and  come  out  presently  at 
Chaux-de-Fonds,  most  prosaic  and  unpicturesque  of 
factory-villages,  where  every  third  house  is  a  watch- 
factory,  or  if  not,  then  a  factory  of  watchmakers'  tools, 
and  where,  my  dear  sir,  your  (ieneva  watch  was  probably 
made  before  being  sent  down  to  G^eneva  to  be  marked  with 
the  name  of  an  eminent  firm.  Here  you  reach  the  limit 
of  railroading  (the  sphere  of  the  guide-books  had  been 
passed  before),  and  have  recourse  to  the  historic  and 
obsolescent  diligence.  It  is  over-full  already,  but  for  a 
consideration  the  conducteiir  will  vacate  his  lofty  seat  and 
admit  you  to  be  adsessor  to  the  2)ostillon.  That  man  has 
not  trul}^  traveled  who  has  not  sometime  made  acquaint- 
ance with  the  postilion — with  his  glazed  hat,  his  red 
jacket,  his  cruel  whip  and  its  tremendous  snapper,  with 
his  hi-hi !  his  hia  I  his  allez-houge !  and  (in  extreme 
emergencies)  his  honcJie  !  I  regret  to  add,  also,  his  sacr-r-e, 
and  his  gr-r-and  yiom  de  dieii  1  We  pass  thrifty,  neat, 
new-looking  villages,  with  well-kept  churches  and  school- 
houses — they  are  in  the  Protestant  canton  of  Neuchatel. 
We  come  to  slovenly  farms  and  Irish-looking  hamlets  ;  it 
is  a  sign  that  we  have  passed  the  boundary  and  are  in  the 
Catholic  part  of  the  canton  of  Berne.  It  is  an  open 
question  still  whether  Protestantism  makes  people  rich, 
or  whether  it  is  the  deceitfulness  of  riches  that  makes  a 


206  CATHOLIC  REFORM  IN  NORTHERN  SWITZERLAND. 

people  Protestant ;  but  all  the  statisticians  of  Europe  are 
agreed  that  in  the  present  state  of  society  the  Catholic 
style  of  godliness  is  no  longer  profitable  to  all  things, 
having  completely  yielded  to  Protestantism  the  promise 
of  the  life  that  now  is,  leaving  that  of  the  life  to  come  still 
in  dispute. 

Saignelegier  (you  will  find  the  name  only  in  the  verj- 
largest  gazetteers)  is  one  of  the  Irishest  of  these  villages. 
I  had  selected  it  at  my  first  objective  point  for  two 
reasons :  first,  it  is  reputed  to  be  one  of  the  most 
turbulent  and  intractable  of  all  the  parishes  under  the 
new  regime  ;  and  secondly,  I  had  been  much  attracted  by 
Avhat  I  heard  of  the  new  cure.  He  was  mentioned  in  the 
newspapers  as  from  Alabama,  in  America,  and  had  given 
proof  that  he  had  not  studied  in  vain  the  principles  of 
liberty  in  that  favored  region,  by  announcing  in  the  news- 
papers that  if  the  police  could  not  protect  him  from  insult 
and  attack  he  should  take  the  matter  into  his  own  hands  ; 
and  further,  that  if  he  caught  any  more  of  the  Ultra- 
montanes  roidant  round  his  premises  at  untimely  hours  of 
the  night,  he  should  shoot  them  on  sight,  not  in  his 
capacit)^  as  a  minister  of  the  gospel,  but  in  his  capacity  as 
an  American  citizen.  You  can  easily  believe  that  upon 
minds  accustomed  only  to  the  effete  civilizations  of  the  old 
world  this  energetic  proceeding  must  have  made  a  lively 
impression. 

In  consequence  either  of  this  demonstration  or  of  some- 
thing else,  the  village  was  quiet  enough  when  I  arrived 
on  Saturday  afternoon.  I  strolled  about  the  treeless 
streets,  though  the  bare  churchyard,  into  the  empty 
church.  The  vestibule  was  paved  with  monuments  of 
village  worthies,  and  the  crosses  and  banners  for  funeral 


CATHOLIC  REFORM  IN  NORTH ERX  SWITZERLAND.  207 

processions  stood  along  the  aisle.  On  either  side  of  the 
chancel,  enthroned  conspicuously  upon  an  altar,  was  a 
handsome  glass  show-case,  containing  an  elaborately 
dressed  recumbent  skeleton.  Spangles,  gold-lace  and 
beads  covered  the  waist  and  skirts,  the  bony  feet  were 
cased  in  embroidered  slippers,  and  the  hands  in  silk  gloves, 
outside  of  which  cheap  rings  hung  loose  about  the  fingers. 
Each  of  them  held  a  pasteboard  palm  branch,  and  by  the 
side  of  each  lay  a  wooden  sword.  One  was  labeled 
St.  Vemishis  martyr,  and  the  other  St.  Faustina,  maiiyr, 
and  they  ought  to  be  genuine,  for  it  cost  this  poor  little 
village,  I  am  told,  about  15,000  francs  to  get  them  from 
Rome. 

My  American  brother  serves  two  or  three  contiguous 
parishes,  and  after  an  early  low  mass  in  the  church  (at 
which  he  told  me  there  would  be  nobody  present)  he  had 
to  leave  for  high  mass  and  sermon  at  the  next  village. 
When  I  left  my  inn,  at  8Y2  a.m.,  I  found  a  crowd  dressed 
in  black  preparing  for  an  important  funeral.  But  their 
old  priest  having  been  expelled  from  the  country,  and  the 
new  cure  being  held  in  horror,  they  were  to  bury  their 
dead  with  a  "  civil  interment,"  without  religious  rites. 
Parties  of  villagers  in  their  Sunday  array  were  straggling 
along  the  pleasant  road  that  leads  towards  the  French 
frontier.  It  was  not  easy  to  pity  them  their  forced 
exchange  of  the  village  church,  with  its  dismal  pictures 
and  grizzly  old  skeletons,  for  the  bright  April  woods, 
lighted  up  with  all  manner  of  blossoming  trees,  and 
carpeted  with  tender  grass  sprinkled  with  cowslips, 
daisies  and  primroses,  and  fragrant  with  the  incense  of 
violets.  And  when  I  reached  the  rendezvous,  where 
perhaps  a  hundred  of  the  village  folk  were  assembled, 


20^  CATHOLIC  REFORM  IX  NORTHERN  SWITZERLAND. 

with  their  brass  band,  waiting  for  the  prayers  to  begin 
which  thej^  were  not  permitted  to  have  in  the  village, 
I  thought  I  had  never  seen  a  more  cheerful,  not  to  say 
jolly,  company  of  martyrs.  So  far  as  concerns  the  appear- 
ance of  happy  resignation,  there  was  not  one  of  them  but 
deserved  to  have  his  skeleton  done  up  in  spangles  and 
gilt  paper  and  set  up  in  the  church  alongside  of 
Sis.  Yenustus  and  Faustina. 

I  could  not  stay  to  witness  the  worship.  In  fact, 
I  lingered  quite  too  long  observing  the  people  and  the 
magnificent  view  that  opened  suddenly  from  the  brow  of 
of  the  precipice  where  they  were  gathered.  We  looked 
down  a  sheer  cliff  of  a  thousand  feet  and  saw  the  little 
river  Doubs — a  ribbon  of  bright  water — and  on  its 
further  bank  the  little  French  village  and  church  of 
Groumois,  where  mass  was  to  be  said  by  some  of  the  exiled 
Swiss  priests  for  the  benefit  of  such  of  their  late  flock  as 
might  come  to  them.  I  made  all  haste  down  the  steep 
foot-path  and  reached  the  church  in  the  midst  of  the  mass. 
It  was  said  by  a  handsome  young  priest,  the  "  revoked  " 
vicar  of  Saignelegier,  and  the  singing  was  by  a  choir  of 
young  children  that  had  come  from  Les  Pommerats, 
another  Swiss  village,  to  make  their  first  communion. 
When  mass  was  ended,  their  "revoked"  pastor,  an  infirm 
old  man  of  seventy,  climbed  slowly  up  into  the  high 
pulpit  on  the  side-wall  of  the  church  to  preach  the  sermon. 
He  stood  for  a  moment  wiping  his  spectacles,  and  you 
would  not  have  supposed,  looking  into  his  dull,  blank 
face,  that  he  was  about  to  burst  forth  with  a  torrent  of 
thoughtful  and  impassioned  eloquence — and  in  point  of 
fact  he  was  not  going  to  do  anything  of  the  kind.  He  took 
for  his  theme  the  vanity   of  life  and   the  importance   of 


CATHOLIC  REFORM  IN  NORTHERN  SWITZERLAND.         209 

eternity,  and  for  half  an  hour  droned   and    dawdled    a 
stream  of  commonplaces  broken  only  by  occasional  pauses 
in  the  attempt  to  remember  his  piece.     But  when  he  had 
finished,  to  his  own  evident  relief,  the   old  man  fumbled 
awhile  in  the  pocket  of  his   cassock  for   a  bit  of  note- 
paper  on  which  were  Avritten  a  few  words  of  warning  to 
his  late  flock,  now  left  without  a  shepherd,  to  beware   of 
the  perils  of  schism  and  irreligion.   And  in  the  attempt  to 
read  this,  the  tears  gathered  on  his  wrinkled  cheeks,  his 
voice  faltered  and  failed,  and  he  tottered  down  the  pulpit 
«tairs  weeping  aloud.     1  forgave  him  for  his  dull  sermon. 
The  crowd  in  the  church  dispersed  in  all  directions,  and 
the  mountain  paths  leading  towards  various  neighboring 
8wiss  villages  were  enlivened  with  groups  of  wayfarers. 
I  joined  myself  to  a  group  of  peasant  children.     They 
belonged  in  a  village  eight  miles  from  Groumois,   and  two 
little  boj^s  who  were  among  the  new   communicants  had 
walked  thither  and  back  four  times  that  week  to  attend 
the  catechism  by  way  of  preparation.     "  Wasn't  it  rather 
hard  ?"  they  asked  ;  "  and  to  think  that  they  should  have 
sent  off  their  good  pastors  and  sent  this  canaille  in   the 
place  of  them  !     But  the  boys  had  harried  the  intniSj  the 
aiwstat,  well  at  Saignelegier,  hadn't  they  ?     And  do  you 
know  that  they  have  arrested  one  of  the  revoked  cures, 
who  had  come  back  to  his  parish  to  minister  to  the  sick, 
and  have  got  him  in  prison?"     I  did  not  know  it  at  the 
time,  but  have  learned  of  it  since  through  the  papers.    He 
was  searched  by  the  rjens  cVarmeSy  and  the  only  sign  of 
sedition  about  him  was  that  he  had  got  his  snuff-box  full 
of  consecrated  wafers.     Considering  what  the  consecrated 
wafer  is  defined  by  the  Eoman  Church  to  be,  it  does  seem 


210         CATHOLIC  REFORM  IN  NORTHERN  SWITZERLAND. 

like  horribly  bad  taste  to  pack  a  dozen  of  them  into  a 
snuff-box  ! 

I  passed  the  evening  at  the  "  presbyter e  "  or  parsonage 
with  my  Alabama  brother  and  an  elderly  Italian  priest 
just  installed  in  the  next  parish.  Our  talk  was  naturally 
of  the  state  and  prospects  of  the  "  Liberal  Catholic  *' 
Church  in  Switzerland.  It  was  idle  to  disguise  that  in  this 
parish  it  had  a  bad  lookout.  In  the  other  parishes  which 
he  served  the  new  cure  had  friends  and  adherents.  In  one 
he  had  seventeen  catechumens.  But  there,  where  he  lived, 
he  was  almost  isolated  from  intercourse.  The  insult  and 
assault  which  he  had  met  with  at  first  had  ceased.  The 
old  clergy,  having  used  their  influence  to  provoke  breaches 
of  the  peace,  had  been  ordered  away.  The  right  of 
meeting  for  separate  worship,  which  was  distinctly 
guaranteed  to  the  Ultramontanes  by  the  new  law,  had 
been  suppressed  as  a  measure  of  police,  when  it  was 
found  that  the  congregations  attacked  and  annoyed  those 
who  frequented  the  parish  church.  Order  was  completely 
restored  by  the  temporary  billeting  of  troops  on  the  town. 
Everything  is  quiet  now,  and  it  needs  only  patience  and 
pluck  to  bring  about  a  good  result. 

So  seemed  to  think  my  Alabama  brother.  And  I  have 
no  doubt  that  !if  patience  and  pluck  are  the  virtues 
needed,  he  is  just  the  man  for  the  place.  His  preparation 
for  the  work  is  singular  and  providential.  Having  been 
once  a  Jesuit,  he  is  now  a  presbyter  of  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church  in  regular  standing,  but  saying  Latin 
masses  ad  interim  in  a  Catholic  parish.  I  mention  this  to 
the  honor  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  .which  is  sometimes 
accused  of  an  exclusive  policy  toward  other  denomi- 
nations. 


CATHOLIC  REFORM  IN  NORTHERN  SWITZERLAND.    211 

To  sum  up  my  own  first  impressions  from  a  single  day's 
observations  in  the  Catholic  Jura,  the  allegation  of  danger 
to  the  public  peace,  by  the  Bernese  (xovernment,  as  a 
reason  for  banishing  nearly  one  hundred  parish  priests, 
and  afterwards  interdicting  their  adherents  from  meeting 
for  worship,  seems  to  me  either  a  shameful  confession  of 
weakness  or  a  dishonest  pretext  for  persecution  ;  and  the 
attempt  to  set  up  a  new  church  without  members  promises 
no  better  result  than  to  awaken  and  intensify  a  fanatical 
devotion  to  the  proscribed  church.  The  whole  affair  looks, 
at  first  sight,  like  own  cousin  to  the  legal  establishment 
and  propagation  of  Protestantism  in  Ireland,  and  likely  to 
reach  the  same  illustrious  success. 

But  since  I  began  this  letter  I  have  seen  this  matter  in 
some  other  aspects,  which  I  will  report  in  my  next. 


LETTER     II 


(teneva,  May  5,  1874. 

I  came  away  from  Saignelegier  by  the  diligence  on 
Monday  noon,  with  very  unfavorable  impressions  of  the 
"  Old  Catholic  ''  movement  as  carried  on  by  order  of 
legislature.  But  that  evening  I  arrived  at  Delemont,  a 
notable  little  city  which  is  just  shedding  its  cincture  of 
walls,  and  getting  ready  for  the  railroad  that  is  expected 
there  in  the  course  of  a  twelve-month.  The  conspicuous 
building  of  Delemont  is  a  huge  quadrangular  palace,  once 
the    summer  residence   of  the  mighty  prince-bishops    of 


212  CATHOLIC  REFORM  IN  NORTHERN  SWITZERLAND. 

Bale,  now  labeled,  in  big  letters,  COLLEGrE,  and  devoted 
to  education  in  all  grades  up  to  that  of  grammar-school. 
Near  the  palace  stands  the  large  and  fine  church,  built 
about  the  middle  of  the  last  centur}^,  and  near  this  the 
spacious    "  presbytery  "    or  parsonage. 

Delemont,  like  the  little  country  parish  which  I  last 
described,  was  included  in  the  sweep  of  those  edicts  which 
revoked  the  commissions  of  ninety-seven  parish-priests, 
and  finally  expelled  them  from  residing  near  their  former 
churches,  supplying  their  places  with  government 
appointees.  But  in  this  little  city,  according  to  the  best 
information  I  could  get,  a  good  half  of  the  Catholic 
population  approve  the  change  and  sustain  the  new  pastor. 
Here,  too,  although  there  is  bitterness  of  feeling  enough 
between  the  two  parties,  there  has  been  no  violence 
ofi'ered  to  the  new  pastor  and  his  adherents  b}^  the  Ultra- 
montane congregation,  and  consequently  their  liberty  of 
meeting  for  separate  worship  has  not  been  interfered  with. 
In  fact  this  extreme  measure  has  not  been  applied  except 
in  four  places,  where  (according  to  the  averment  to  me  of 
a  leading  member  of  the  government)  the  meetings  of  the 
Ultramontanes  for  the  pretense  of  worship  were  really 
nothing  but  centers  of  conspiracy  against  public  peace 
and  order.         * 

I  called  twice  upon  the  Abbe  Portaz,  the  new  Cure.  He 
is  a  prepossessing  gentleman,  of  dignity,  culture  and 
learning — of  eloquence,  too,  I  am  told.  When  I  asked 
him  whether  he  was  acquainted  with  Hyacinthe,  he  told 
me  that  he  had  once  met  him  at  the  table  of  Mermillod, 
the  would-be  Bishop  of  Geneva,  •  before  the  days  of 
infallibility  and  schism,  when  Hyacinthe  Avas  preaching 
Conferences  at  Carouge  in  a   white   woolen  gown  and  a 


CATHOLIC  REFORM  IN  NORTHERN  SWITZERLAND.  213 

shaven  head,  and  Portaz,  a  bishop's  chaplain  from  Savoy, 
had  come  to  preach  in  Mermillod's  new  cathedral  of  Xotre 
Dame.     Things  are  changed  since  them. 

The  Cure  took  me  over  to  the  great  church.  In  a  dark, 
high  niche  in  the  chancel,  b<ihind  a  plate  of  clear  glass 
reclined  a  skeleton,  said  to  be  that  of  8t.  Germain,  who 
in  the  seventh  century  had  been  founder  of  the  neighboring 
Abbey  of  (irandval,  now  extinct.  In  the  sacristy 
guarded  by  five  successive  locks  with  different  keys,  was 
the  treasury  of  relics — the  sandals  of  St.  (lermain,  his 
tihiaUa,  or  stockings,  his  paten  and  chalice,  of  antique 
pattern  and  of  virgin  gold,  and  his  bishop's  staff ;  item,  a 
jaw-bone  of  some  anonymous  worthy  ;  and  with  these, 
brilliant  with  gilding  and  imitation  jewels,  the  most 
costly  '^  properties  *'  of  the  church — pyxes  and  festal 
banners.  The  old  oaken  w^ardrobes  which  surrounded  the 
large  room  on  three  sides  were  stored  with  the  accumula- 
tion of  centuries  in  priestly  vestments,  and  one  drawer 
was  piled  with  broad,  stiff  chasubles  of  various  dates, 
embroidered  with  silk,  with  silver  and  with  gold,  and 
some  of  them,  most  richly  and  curiously,  with  straw — the 
pious  work  of  nnns  in  ancient  time. 

But  all  this,  though  curious  enough,  was  much  less  to 
my  purpose  than  to  know  the  contents  and  materials  of 
the  spiritual  edifice.  The  Cure  of  Delemont  has  no 
occasion,  like  his  rural  brother,  to  lament  the  lack  of  a 
congregation.  On  the  contrary,  he  finds  a  goodly  assembly 
every  Sunday,  composed  in  large  part  of  men  ;  and 
at  Easter  the  Church  was  fairly  filled  with  the  crowd  of 
worshipers.  But  he  acknowledges  that  the  Liberal  Catholic 
population  is  ordinarily  much  more  attentive  at  elections 
than  it  is  at  sermons  and  sacraments.     They  have  been 


214         CATHOLIC  REFORM  IN  NORTHERN  SWITZERLAND. 

revolted  from  the  old  church  not  half  so  much  by  reaction 
against  novelties  in  theology,  or  even  by  corruptions  in 
worship  and  discipline,  as  by  indignation  at  finding  the 
church  and  pulpit  turned  into  political  machines,  and 
especially  into  machines  adverse  to  their  politics. 

The  great  hindrance  to  the  immediate  spread  of  the 
Liberal  Catholic  organization, — this  is  the  common 
testimony  of  its  representatives — is  the  lack  of  clergy. 
People,  parishes,  churches,  salaries,  are  all  read3^  But 
the  right  men  for  the  work  are  hard  to  find.  The  discipline 
which  holds  the  ranks  of  the  Koman  priesthood  unbroken 
against  the  combination  of  influences  now  bearing  upon 
them  is  one  of  the  most  splendid  things  in  history.  "  My 
clergy  is  a  regiment,  and  it  has  to  march,"  said  the 
Cardinal-Bishop  Bonnechose  not  long  ago  in  the  French 
Imperial  Senate.  In  all  that  great  army  only  here  and 
there  a  priest,  and  not  one  single  bishop  of  unquestioned 
standing  is  seen  to  fall  out  of  line. 

I  turned  from  Delemont  through  a  passage  of  scenery 
wonderfully  refreshing  after  the  dull  undulations  of  the 
table-land  where  I  had  been  spending  these  three  or  four 
days,  and  not  without  a  certain  majesty  even  to  one 
whose  eyes  have  been  accustomed  for  months  to  the  huge 
granite  masses  of  the  great  Alps  of  Savoj^.  The  Gorge 
of  Moutier  is  not  granite  indeed  ;  but  whatever  Nature 
can  do  in  limestone  is  done  there  ;  and  in  some  of  the 
elements  of  sublimity  there  can  be  no  dispute  that  the 
limestone  cliff's  of  the  Jura  surpass  the  Alps.  The  twisted 
and  tormented  strata  seem  to  be  writhing  still  in  the 
agony  of  that  great  convulsion  in  which  they  were  cloven 
asunder  to  make  way  for  the  little  river  that  is  sawing  its 
way  annually   deeper  at   the  bottom.    Weather-stained, 


CATHOLIC  REFORM  IX  NORTHERN  SWITZERLAND.  215 

rifted^  cavernous,  the  opposing  cliffs  look  each  other  in  the 
face  at  a  distance  so  narrow  that  the  road  notched  into  the 
precipice  leaps  from  side  to  side  a  hundred  feet  above  the 
stream,  in  bridges  of  a  single  span.  The  cuttings  and 
multitudinous  tunnels  of  the  expected  railroad — a  miracle 
of  engineering — come  constantly  into  view,  and  at  last, 
from  under  the  arch  of  an  ancient  Roman  tunnel,  known 
as  "the  Peter-gate,"  decorated  with  a  still  legible 
inscription,  '^to  the  divine  Augustus,''  I  looked  down  upon 
a  village  dressed  out  in  gay  flags  and  evergreen  arches, 
celebrating  the  inauguration  of  part  of  the  road  com- 
pleted. 

Do  not  think  this  paragraph  about  the  new  railroad  to 
be  quite  out  of  place  in  a  letter  on  the  Church  Eeform. 
I  assure  you  that  the  projected  net-work  of  Jura  railroads 
is  considered  by  all  concerned,  on  all  sides,  as  having  a 
very  important  part  to  play  in  the  propagation  and 
perpetuation  of  Liberalism. 

I  stopped  a  few  hours  at  the  interesting  and  most 
Catholic  city  of  Soleure  (in  German,  Solothurn),  capital 
of  the  Catholic  canton  of  the  same  name.  There  is  nothing 
to  see  there  but  churches  of  unusual  splendor  and  wealth, 
and  a  double  cincture  of  magnificent  towers,  walls  and 
moat,  hardly  inferior  to  those  of  famous  Nuremburg.  Gro 
quick,  if  you  would  see  them.  They  are  gone  already  on 
the  side  next  the  railroad  station;  and  those  of  Nuremburg 
are  going  too.  Some  paltry  considerations  touching  the 
reduction  of  the  death-rate  are  said  to  conspire  with  the 
hope  of  eligible  building-lots  to  bring  about  the  destruc- 
tion of  these  noble  monuments  ;  and  the  tourist  world  is 
indignant  at  the  burghers  for  not  being  willing  to  spare 
an  average  of  a  few  months  off  the  ends  of  their  sordid 


216  CATHOLIC  REFORM  IN  NORTHERN  SWITZERLAND. 

lives,  for  the  benefit  of  lovers  of  the  picturesque  and 
historic.  Over  the  filled-up  moat,  and  through  the  awful 
gap  in  its  ancient  ramparts,  Liberal  opinions  have  invaded 
Catholic  Soleure,  and  hold  it,  in  spite  of  Church  and 
clergy.  Whenever  election-day  comes  round,  the  formid- 
able fact  becomes  apparent  that  three-fourths  of  the 
people,  though  Catholics  born  and  bred,  are  Liberals  at 
heart  and  in  politics,  and  mean  to  bear  with  their  present 
pastors  only  so  long  as  it  is  impossible  for  them  to  find 
others  to  take  their  place. 

But  my  errand  this  day  was  not  to  the  capital,  but  to 
Olten,  a  chief  town  of  this  Catholic  canton.  Hard  by  Olten, 
a  dusty  walk  of  twenty  minutes  from  the  station,  lies 
little  Starrkirch,  unknown  till  lately  in  ecclesiastical 
history,  now  famous  for  its  resolute  rector  (whose  very 
name,  with  its  seven  consonants  to  one  vowel,  bespeaks  a 
prophet  that  will  not  utter  smooth  things)  and  his  stead- 
fastly adhering  parishioners.  In  Starrkirch  one  sees  Old 
Catholicism  in  its  typical  aspect :  the  old  parish  church 
imaltered,  the  same  old  congregation,  undiminished  by 
desertion,  the  same  pastor  saying  the  same  Latin  masses, 
and  preaching  the  same  Tridentine  theology — nothing 
changed,  except  that  the  Pope  and  the  Bishop  and  all  the 
rest  of  the  clergy  have  pushed  on,  shouting  excommunica- 
tions backwards  as  they  go,  and  left  this  little  parish  quite 
alone  in  the  forsaken  camp  where  they  had  rested  for  three 
hundred  years.  I  walked  through  the  little  church-yard, 
in  the  center  of  which  a  great  crucifix  spreads  its  arms  in 
benediction  over  the  graves.  In  one  corner  of  the  yard 
was  a  strange  spectacle — a  niche  of  masonry  with  shelves 
of  wood,  on  which  I  counted  sixty-two  human  skulls  of 
various  antiquity.     In  the  crowded  cemetery,  whenever 


CATHOLIC  REFORM  IN  NORTHERN  .SWITZERLAND.  217 

an  old  grave  has  to  be  evacuated  to  make  way  for  a  new 
tenant,  the  skull  of  the  former  occupant  is  identified  by 
his  surviving  friends,  and  laid  away  in  this  more 
conspicuous  resting-place. 

I  had  much  and  interesting  conversation  with  Cure 
(xschwind,  in  his  quiet  country  parsonage,  and  with 
Professor  Herzog,  the  new  Old  Catholic  Cure  of  Olten. 
How  different  the  sober  gravity  of  these  scholarlike  and 
thoughtful  Germans,  from  the  quick  apprehensiveness  and 
graceful  facility  of  the  priests  in  French  Switzerland  ! 
Sustained  as  they  are  by  the  strong  and  intelligent 
adhesion  of  an  almost  unanimous  population,  they  look 
with  misgivings  upon  the  rough  measures  of  the  Bernese 
Grovernment  in  exiling  old  pastors  and  installing  new 
over  unwilling  flocks,  and  distinctly  decline  all  solidarity 
with  the  "mixed  lot''  of  priests  who  have  been  swept 
together  hastily  to  fill  the  sudden  vacancies  in  the  Bernese 
Jura,  among  whom,  it  is  more  than  hinted,  are  men  whose- 
character  it  would  be  charitable  to  speak  of  as  doubtful. 
Of  Hyacinthe  and  his  colleagues  they  speak  with  deep 
personal  respect  and  kindness — it  is  impossible  to  do 
otherwise;  but  they  themselves  are  not  reformers — at 
least  not  on  their  own  hook — and  Hyacinthe  is.  They  are 
simple  conservatives,  holding  without  variation  to  the 
Catholic  Church  as  it  was  up  to  July  18,  1870,  and 
patiently  waiting  for  a  Bishop  to  be  consecrated  and  a 
Synod  to  be  called  that  can  undertake  the  reform  of 
discijyline  (doctrine  being  irreformable)  with  due  authority. 

Since  my  visit  to  the  Old  Catholic  churches  and  pastors, 
1  have  been  to  Berne  and  talked  Avith  leading  statesmen 
there.  Yon  will  be  interested  to  get  the  political  and  Pro- 
testant view  of  these  remarkable  affairs  in  another  letter. 


218    CATHOLIC  REFORM  IN  NORIHEUX  SWITZERLAND. 


LETTER    III 


(teneva,  May  27th,  1874. 

lu  all  fairness,  1  have  felt  compelled  to  report  pretty 
unfavorable  impressions  of  the  ecclesiastical  operations 
which  have  been  carried  on  by  the  government  of  the 
Canton  of  Berne  in  the  Roman  Catholic  districts  of  that 
Protestant  Canton.  I  found  there  shepherds  without 
sheep,  saying  masses  in  empty  churches ;  and  sheep  without 
a  shepherd,  interdicted  even  from  meeting  for  worship, 
and  compelled  to  cross  the  frontier  of  a  foreign  country 
for  the  privilege  of  worshiping  according  to  their 
consciences  and  of  receiving  instruction  from  their 
banished  priests.  In  the  larger  towns,  where  "  liberal," 
or  free-thinking,  opinions  have  made  progress,  things  wear 
a  better  aspect,  for  there  often  a  majority — sometimes  an 
overwhelming  majority — of  the  Catholic  population  gives 
its  hearty  consent  to  the  discharge  of  the  old  pastor  and 
the  installation  of  the  new.  But  even  there,  while  the 
majority  of  voters  is  all  one  way,  the  majority  of 
worshipers  is  all  the  other  ;  and  even  in  some  of  these 
large  towns,  too  far  distant  from  the  Erench  frontier  to 
admit  of  weekly  pilgrimages  thither  for  worship,  the 
liberty  of  separate  worshi])  for  the  Ultramontanes  has 
been  suppressed  "  as  a  precautionary  measure,"'  to  prevent 
breaches  of  the  peace. 

Now,  1  do  not  find  anything  of  the  nature  of  religious 
persecution  in  the  disestahlishment  of  the  old  clergy.     If 


CATHOLIC  REFORM  IN  NORTHERN  SWITZERLAND.         219 

the  State  owns  certain  meeting-houses  and  parsonages, 
and  has  certain  salaries  to  bestow  for  pastoral  service,  it 
is  certainly  entitled  to  say  who  shall  have  the  use  of  these, 
and  is  not  altogether  to  blame  for  saying  that  they  shall 
not  be  used  by  disloyal  and  disobedient  persons  to 
promote  disloyalty  and  disobedience  to  the  laws  in  others. 
Consequently,  when  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  canton 
declared  ninety-seven  parish  priests,  on  the  occasion  of 
their  signing  a  manifesto  adhering  to  the  disloj^al  and 
deposed  bishop,  to  be  deprived  of  their  commissions  for 
malfeasance  in  office,  it  was  evidently  not  unjust  and 
presumptively  not  illegal,  for  we  may  take  it  for  granted 
that  Swiss  Courts  understand  Swiss  laws.  But  when  it 
came  to  forbidding  the  late  clergy  to  remain  among  their 
old  parishioners,  and  to  interdicting  the  latter  from, 
meeting  for  worship  at  their  own  charges,  in  order  to 
provide  against  breaches  of  the  peace,  it  did  seem  to  me 
t)  be  either  a  discreditable  confession  of  weakness  in  the 
government,  or  else  a  persecution  under  false  pretenses. 
It  looked  to  me,  too,  like  a  most  futile  policy,  fitted  to 
bring  about  reaction  and  its  own  defeat;  and  meanwhile 
to  train  the  Ultramontane  church  to  habits  of  self-support 
which  will  give  it  a  grand  advantage  in  that  period  of  the 
total  separation  of  church  and  state  which  the  Swiss 
people,  with  singular  unanimity,  perceive  to  be  nigh  at 
hand. 

1  have  been  interested  in  inquiring  in  all  quarters, 
up  to  the  highest  stations  of  political  leadership  at 
Berne,  to  see  what  would  be  said  to  this  view  of  the  case. 

One  thing  suggests  itself  to  every  traveler  at  the 
outset — the  question  whether  it  is  the  duty  of  the  civil 
government  to   show  itself  absolutely  indifferent  in   the 


220         CATHOLIC  REFORM  IN  NORTHERN  SWITZERLAND. 

case  of  a  form  of  religion  which  blights  the  prosperity  of 
the  region  where  it  prevails  ;  which  sterilizes  the  farms, 
makes  the  villages  mean  and  foul,  breaks  down  the 
schools,  dries  up  the  resources,  and  dwindles  the  popula- 
tion. These  are  matters  that  concern  the  dearest  interests 
of  secular  government ,  and  one  cannot  altogether  blame 
the  fathers  of  the  state  at  Berne  for  at  least  wishing  to  do 
something  for  the  relief  of  their  pitiable  Roman  Catholic 
provinces. 

Then,  I  found  the  sentiment  generally  expressed  by  the 
friends  of  the  government  policy,  that  it  only  required 
time  and  perseverance  to  bring  the  whole  people  round  to 
it.  The  people  of  the  Catholic  districts  have  been  trained 
by  their  own  priests  to  the  habit  of  submitting  to  authority 
without  asking  questions.  It  is  only  a  question  of  waiting 
till  the  personal  influence  of  the  old  priests  has  faded  out 
and  been  forgotten,  and  the  new  generation  will  quietly 
accomodate  themselves  to  established  facts.  Everything 
tends  in  this  direction.  The  Protestant  pastor  at  Delemont 
pointed  out  to  me  from  his  window  sundry  fresh  mounds 
of  earth  here  and  there  on  the  hill-side  that  marked  the 
opening  of  iron-mines  newly  discovered,  and  then  showed 
me  the  long  embankment  on  which,  in  the  course  of  a  few 
months  the  railroad-trains  were  expected  in  that  secluded 
little  mediaeval  city.  These  were  among  the  influences 
that  were  expected  mightily  to  help  the  government  in  its 
fight  against  Ultramontanism.  They  bring  liberal  ideas 
with  them.  For  old-fashioned  Romanism  is  not  more  the 
deadly  foe  of  material  progress  and  prosperity,  than 
prosperit}'',  in  its  turn,  is  the  foe  of  Romanism. 

The  pastor,  whose  duty,  in  that  Catholic  town,  was  to 
minister  to  the  few  Protestant  families  who  had  come  in 


CATHOLIC  REFORM  IN  NORTHERX  SWITZERLAND.    221 

from  other  regions,  gave  good  reasons  for  being  satisfied 
himself  with  the  change  of  regime.  He  had  been  subjected 
to  the  arrogant  insults  of  the  clergy  now  expelled.  He  had 
seen  the  families  of  his  flock  forced  to  carry  their  dead 
long  leagues  away  for  burial  by  the  intolerance  which 
refused  them  any  resting-place  in  Catholic  soil ;  and  it  was 
no  wonder  that  he  should  take  satisfaction  in  seeing  such 
pride  followed  by  a  fall.  But  if  the  question  was  on  tlie 
priesthood  and  ritual,  the  doctrine  and  practice,  that  had 
been  substituted  for  the  old,  he  did  not  believe  there  was 
much  to  choose.  If  the  new  priests  meant  reform,  why 
did  they  not  begin  it,  instead  of  mumbling  over  the  same 
old  Latin  masses,  and  inflicting  the  same  yoke  of 
ceremonials  ? 

As  I  started  to  come  away  from  the  Catholic  Jura, 
I  had  a  capital  opportunity  of  taking  the  gauge  of  public 
sentiment  on  the  church  question.  It  was  a  high  day  in 
that  region  ;  for  there  was  to  be  in  a  neighboring  valley 
an  inauguration  of  one  line  of  that  reticulation  of  railroads 
which  is  soon  to  interlace  the  whole  Jura ;  and  the  great 
open  carriage  in  which  I  had  taken  passage  was  filled  with 
a  crowd  of  good-humored,  well-to-do  people,  talking 
alternately  and  indifferently  in  German  (and  such 
German!)  and  French.  It  was  not  difficult  to  lead  the 
talk  toward  church  matters.  AVhen  1  asked  what  sort  of 
men  the  new  clergy  seemed  to  be,  the  answer  was  a 
general  sneer — "  Oh  !  they  B^re  2)riesfSj  and  I  suppose  you 
know  what  that  is!"  "  But  how  are  they  liked  by  the 
people?  "  "  Well,  we  don't  see  much  of  them.  Dubois, 
over  there  in  the  corner,  tried  going  to  church  for  a  while, 
ask  him."  M.  Dubois  smiled  sheepishly  at  the  soft 
impeachment,    and    confessed    that    he    had    found    the 


222         CATHOLIC  KEFORIM  IN  N0RTHP:RN  SWITZERLAND. 

unwonted  exercise  of  hearing  sermons  too  much  for  his 
constitution,  and  had  relapsed  into  the  usual  habits  of  the 
adult  male  Catholic  with  regard  to  church-going.  By-and- 
by  I  was  asked  if  I  had  seen  the  new  cure  of  their  village. 
Was  happy  to  say  that  I  had.  And  had  he  introduced  me 
to  his  sister  ?  Yqs,  I  had  seen  the  lady.  "  Spiritual 
sister,  you  know,  eh  ?"  No,  indeed,  I  did  not  know  it  at 
all.  "  Oh  !  yes  ;  it  is  perfectly  understood  ;  and  the  tall 
young  gentleman  is  his  spiritual  nephew  !"' 

Scandals  of  this  sort  are  rife  concerning  the  new  cures, 
not  only  among  their  ultramontane  antagonists,  but  in 
Protestant  and  even  in  Liberal  Catholic  circles.  And  the 
only  answer  to  them  that  I  have  heard  is  in  the  shape  of 
the  most  tremendous  tii  quoqiie  allegation  against  their 
ultramontane  predecessors.  One  of  the  most  eminent 
statesmen  at  Berne  assured  me  that  nothing  which  was 
alleged  against  the  character  of  the  new  clergy  was  one 
half  as  bad  as  what  was  absolutely  demonstrated  against 
the  character  of  the  old  ;  and  instanced  the  fact  that 
within  a  single  year,  out  of  ninety-seven  Catholic  cures  in 
that  canton,  not  less  than  Jive  had  been  arraigned  before 
the  criminal  courts  for  crimes  against  morality  and 
decency  ! 

The  same  gentlejman  presented  me  with  the  documents 
illustrating  the  insolence  and  disloyalty  of  the  ex-bishop 
and  his  clergy,  which  led  to  their  expulsion.  He  assured 
me  that  the  actual  or  threatened  disturbances  of  the  peace 
which  had  led  to  the  billeting  of  soldiers  in  a  few 
turbulent  villages,  and  the  temporary  suppression  of  the 
right  of  worship  there,  were  serious  and  aggravated  ; 
that  the  pretended  separate  worship  was  merely  the 
pretext  for  organized  resistance  to  the  law,  and  that  just 


CATHOLIC  REFORM  IN  NORTHERN  SWITZERLAND.  223 

as  fast  as  these  places  made  up  their  minds  to  behave 
peaceably,  all  these  precautionary  measures  were  removed. 
The  recusant  priests  are  allowed  to  return  to  their  old 
parishes  at  once,  on  retracting  their  signatures  to  the 
insolent  defiance  of  the  government,  and  promising 
submission;  on  these  terms  some  have  already  returned. 

Whatever  pity  we  may  have  for  the  deprived  clergy 
and  sect  is  of  mere  grace  to  them  and  not  of  merit.  One 
of  the  bitterest  complaints  of  the  ex-bishop  and  his  adhe- 
rents is  that  they  are  not  permitted  to  practice  against 
the  Old  Catholics  the  very  acts  which  they  find  so  unplea- 
sant when  practiced  against  themselves.  It  was  one  of 
their  earliest  grievances,  that  they  were  not  permitted  to 
excommunicate  and  expel  good  Cure  Gschwind,  against 
the  unanimous  remonstrance  of  his  parish,  and  impose  an 
unwelcome  intruder  there. 

But  after  all  is  said,  there  is  a  prevalent  feeling  that  the 
civil  government  have  attempted  too  much;  that  it  would 
have  been  better  for  it  to  stop  with  revoking  the  civil 
commissions  and  salaries  of  the  disloyal  priests,  and  not 
try  to  make  a  bishop  of  itself  and  institute  new  ones.  It 
IS  not  felt  that  the  expeditions  into  neighboring  or  distant 
countries  to  drum  up  Catholic  priests  to  fill  the  vacancies 
have  gathered  a  very  choice  company ;  and  the  serious 
Catholic  reformers  are  a  little  shy  of  the  fellowship  of 
these  associates.  Such  men  as  Herzog  and  Hyacinthe  are 
fully  aware  that  the  main  peril  of  their  work  is  that 
unworthy  men,  and  especially  unworthy  priests,  wdll  try 
to  attach  themselves  to  it.  And  with  their  best  efforts, 
this  peril  has  not  been  wholly  avoided. 


224        THE  FOURTH  OLD  CATHOLIC  CONGRESS. 


X. 


THE    FOURTH    OLD    CATHOLIC 

CONGliESS.* 


Freiburg^  Badeii,  Septeni>er  8^  1874. 

The  Cxermau  Old  Catholic  Congress  has  this  evening 
closed  its  sessions  with  a  solemn  smoke  and  beer-drinking 
in  the  Harmonie-halle.  It  began  on  Sunday,  and  although 
I  arrived  on  Monday  night,  business  was  all  over,  and 
nothing  remained  to  be  witnessed  but  the  show-meeting 
for  speech-making  this  afternoon,  and  the  beer  and 
tobacco  after  supper.  You  will  infer,  perhaps,  that  there 
was  not  a  great  deal  of  business  to  do ;  and  therein 
I  suspect  that  yoK  will  be  more  than  half  right.  I  shall 
inform  myself  carefully  and  give  the  practical  and 
statistical  results  of  the  meeting  in  another  letter.  Mean- 
while, let  me  sum  up  my  personal  impressions  of  the 
meeting. 

Comparing  it  with  the  imposing  assembly  at  Cologne 
two  years  ago,  it  was  impossible  to  help  seeing  some 
evidences  of  a  falling-off.     Professor  von  Schulte  now,  as 

*  From  the  L'hristian  Union. 


THE  FOURTH  OLD  CATHOLIC  CONGRESS.        225 

before^  President  of  the  Congress^  was  present — a 
magnificent  figure-head  of  the  movement.  Reinkens,  the 
great  popular  orator  of  two  years  ago,  was  here  also;  but 
he  is  now  a  bishop,  and  the  v  alidity  of  his  episcopal 
consecration  is  to  be  presumed  from  the  fact  that  it  has 
taken  most  of  the  fun  out  of  him,  and  superinduced  a 
disposition  to  take  on  fat.  Professor  Hilber  was  also  here 
from  Munich,  and  Doctor  Michelis  from  his  parish  at 
Zurich.  But  the  wrinkled  face  of  Dollinger  was  not  to  be 
seen,  nor  the  enthusiastic  Schiller-like  head  of  Friedrich, 
nor  yet  the  form  of  Professor  von  Maassen  of  Vienna, 
who  vies  with  von  Schulte  in  his  special  branch  of  learning 
— two  thunderbolts  of  canon-law.  The  company  of 
distinguished  visitors  from  outside  has  suffered  a  like 
diminution.  Sundry  Frenchmen  came  to  fraternize,  but 
the  flags  and  patriotic  inscriptions  in  the  reception-hall 
were  too  much  for  them.  One  glance,  and  they  bolted 
incontinently  and  were  no  more  seen.  Of  course,  the 
Protestant  Episcopalian  was  here,  humbly  longing  for  a 
chance  to  recognize  somebody  ecclesiastically,  who  would 
recognize  him  in  return,  and  getting  scant  comfort.  But 
he  came  not  multitudinous  as  at  Cologne,  where  one  end 
of  the  platform  was  dark  with  Anglican  uniforms.  The 
exemplary  snubbing  inflicted  by  von  Schulte  on  Bishop 
Christopher  Wordsworth,  of  Lincoln,  after  his  beautiful 
Latin  speech,  so  full  of  condensed  unwisdom,  so  pregnant 
with  bad  advice  unasked-for,  had  not  been  in  vain,  and 
the  good  man  only  sent  his  Ciceronian  periods  by  mail ; 
neither  did  his  brother  of  Winchester  appear  except  by 
letter.  Only  one  Protestant  bishop  adorned  the  occasion, 
and  he  only  an  American.  But  it  was  impossible  not  to 
admire  the  tact  and  shrewdness  with  which  this  mission,  to 

15 


226  THE  FOURTH  OLD  CATHOLIC  CONGRESS. 

prevent  further  accidents,  had  been  entrusted  to  a 
gentleman  whose  innocence  of  the  German  tongue 
guaranteed  him  against  indiscretions,  and  restricted  him 
to  the  safe  course  of  sitting  on  the  platform  and  looking 
dignified — a  function  which  was  fulfilled  with  great 
success. 

The  reason  of  this  apparent  falling-off  in  the  interest  of 
the  Old  Catholic  Congress  may  lie  partly  in  the  fact  that 
the  movement  has  lost  the  charm  of  novelty;  and  that  the 
intense  expectation  that  kept  great  crowds  on  tiptoe  for 
hours,  at  Munich  and  Cologne,  is  a  little  chilled  by  the 
failure  of  any  such  great  popular  developments  as  have 
formerly  been  prophesied  and  anticipated.  But  a  greater 
part  of  the  reason  lies,  doubtless,  in  the  fact  that  the  chief 
responsibility  which  rested  on  the  earlier  Congresses  is 
now  discharged  by  the  completion  of  the  Old  Catholic 
church-organization.  The  burning  questions  which,  in 
spite  of  all  the  repressive  force  of  von  Schulte's  chairman- 
ship, icoiild  flame  up,  every  now  and  then,  in  the  former 
meetings — the  questions  especially  of  celibacy  and  the 
confessional — now  belong  to  the  bishop  and  synod  ;  and 
the  "'  Congress  "'  is  mainly  a  popular  meeting  for  good 
cheer  and  mutual  acquaintance  and  public  impression. 
Naturally,  being  intended  for  impression,  it  ceases  to  be 
impressive. 

And  yet  the  crowd  that  thronged  the  Festsaal  of  Frei- 
burg this  afternoon  wa^  a  fine  and  stirring  sight.  It  was 
a  great  hall,  with  theatrical  scenery,  stage  and  decorations 
at  one  end.  Deep  galleries  stretch  from  one  end  of  it  to 
the  other,  hung  with  garlands  and  flags  and  patriotic 
inscriptions,  indicating  the  heart  and  spring  of  this  move- 
ment— that  it  is  German  a  good   deal  more  than  it  is 


THE  FOURTH  OLD  CATHOLIC  CONGRESS.        227 

theological  or  religious.  I  do  not  wonder  that  the  French 
brethren  found  the  atmosphere  of  the  room  uncomfortable. 
In  the  centre  of  the  hall  had  been  built  a  temporary  plat- 
form and  pulpit,  and  into  the  latter  all  the  speakers  went 
up  successively. 

The  speaking,  of  course,  cannot  here  be  reported  in 
detail.  Almost  every  one  of  the  speakers  was,  or  had 
been,  a  University  professor.  Here  lies  the  strength,  and 
here  also  the  weakness,  of  the  Old  Catholic  movement. 
It  is  thus  far  a  University  movement  and  not  a  popular 
one.  All  the  great  church  reformations  have  begun  in  the 
universities ;  but  the  really  great  ones  have  not  stopped 
there.  The  tone  of  the  speaking  was  completely  and 
thoroughly  Protestant.  The  uppermost  topics  were  :  the 
inalienable  responsibility  of  the  individual  conscience  ;  the 
duty  of  Bible-reading  and  of  private  judgment ;  the  sole 
and  sufficient  Mediatorship  of  Christ  between  man  and 
God.  Besides  these  was  a  certain  amount  of  buncombe 
and  brag,  and  too  much  of  acrimony  and  personality.  But 
as  for  "Catholicity,"  in  the  sense  of  apostolical  succession, 
orders  in  the  ministry,  "  historical  churches,"  and  valid 
sacraments,  you  will  hear  more  of  it  in  any  five  minutes^ 
talk  of  the  Anglican  lobby  that  hangs  habitually  about 
these  (xerman  meetings,  hankering  after  '^  recognition," 
than  you  will  in  three  hours  on  a  stretch  of  solid  speech- 
making  in  an  Old  Catholic  Congress. 

The  three  days'  doings  were  wound  up  by  a  closing 
speech  from  Professor  von  Schulte,  which  gave  a  summary 
of  the  work  of  the  Congress.  One  paragraph  was  to  our 
present  point.  It  was  an  acknowledgment  of  the  salutations 
which  the  Congress  had  received  from  other  communions 
— letters   from  the  bishops  of  Lincoln  and  Wincliester,  a 


228        THE  FOURTH  OLD  CATHOLIC  CONGRESS. 

letter  from  a  Grreek  priest  (applause),  the  presence  of  the 
bishop  of  Pittsburgh  in  America  (cheering,  and  the  bishop, 
being  nudged,  bowed  his  acknowledgments),  and  a  letter 
in  behalf  of  the  Grerman  Evangelicals  (cheering  renewed 
and  continued).  Somebody  certainly  ought  to  explain  to 
Herr  von  Schulte  and  his  colleagues  that  the  sort  of  recog- 
nition which  his  Anglo-American  friends  are  after  is  some- 
thing different  from  being  lumped  in  the  same  sentence 
with  the  Grerman  Presbyterians.  Or  else  somebody  ought 
to  explain  to  Episcopalians  generally  at  home,  what  they 
might  fail  to  gather  from  their  official  correspondents,  the 
exact  amount  and  quality  of  the  recognition  thus  far 
accorded  to  their  special  pretensions  on  the  part  of  their 
Old  Catholic  brethren. 

I  must  own  that  the  impression  made  on  my  mind  by 
the  grand  and  animated  assembly  at  the  closing  session  at 
the  Festsaal  was  weakened  by  two  other  meetings  which 
I  had  already  attended  this  same  day.  Strolling  through 
the  quaint  old  town,  I  stopped  in  the  Franciskanerplatz, 
where  an  expressive  statue  of  St.  Francis  looks  down  upon 
the  fountain  and  the  strange  costumes  of  the  market-women 
and  the  crowd  of  comers  and  goers,  and  where  a  row  of 
beautifully  traceried  windows  invites  one  to  pace  the 
length  of  the  old  tonvent  cloister.  Before  us  was  a  church 
door,  and  the  sound  of  choir  and  organ  made  us  pause  and 
look  in  for  a  moment.  There  was  high  mass,  and  the  large 
church  was  fairly  filled  with  a  congregation  of  rich  and 
poor,  men,  women  and  children,  in  solemn  Avorship.  After 
observing  for  a  moment  we  quietly  withdrew  and  went  on 
looking  for  the  cathedral.  We  passed  along  the  serried 
gables  of  the  Kaiserstrasse  till,  glancing  around  a  certain 
corner,   suddenly  that  wonderful  spire — nigh  300  feet  of 


THE  FOURTH  OLD  CATHOLIC  CONGRESS.        229 

delicate  lacework  in  stone — seemed  to  shoot  up  like  a 
rocket  into  the  sky.  No  cathedral  I  have  yet  seen  makes 
on  me  such  an  impression  of  complete,  harmonious  beauty 
as  that  of  Freiburg.  It  is  almost  the  onlj^  one  in  Europe 
that  has  come  down  to  us  both  finished  and  undamaged 
from  its  original  builders.  But  it  had  to-day  a  special  and 
excelling  glory.  As  we  drew  near  the  great  portal  we 
could  hear  the  gush  of  the  organ,  the  thunderous  roar  of 
the  kettle-drums,  and  the  strings  and  brass  of  an  orchestra, 
and  above  these  a  sweet,  harmonious  multitude  of  chanting 
voices.  And  when  we  entered,  I  saw,  what  I  never  yet 
had  seen  in  any  other  cathedral,  the  whole  vast  area, 
choir,  transepts,  nave,  filled  with  worshipers  upon  their 
knees.  It  is  obvious  that  this  cit}^  that  has  been  chosen 
as  the  seat  of  the  Liberal  Catholic  Congress  is  the  seat  of 
unusual  earnestness  and  religious  vitality  among  the 
Roman  Catholics  also.  And  as  comparing  the  two,  I  could 
not  but  feel  that  the  promise  of  the  future  was  quite  as 
likely  to  be  with  the  multitude  of  these  praying  folk  in 
the  churches  as  with  the  speeches  of  the  professors  and 
the  plaudits  of  the  crowd  at  the  Festsaal. 

But  let  your  readers  remark  the  general  fact  that  where 
the  Roman  system  is  purest  and  best,  as  in  (lermany, 
there  the  impulse  for  its  reform  is  strongest ;  and  that 
where  it  was  most  degraded,  as  in  Italy,  Spain  and 
Spanish  America,  there  all  practical  thought  or  hope  of 
reforming  it  ceases  from  among  its  followers. 


230  CHRISTIAN  UNION  AT  BONN. 


XI. 


CHRISTIAN    UNION    AT    BONN.* 


G-ENEVA,  September  25^  1874. 

The  prevailing  idea  of  Christian  Union  is  that  of  uniting 
certain  classes  of  Christians  against  certain  other  classes  of 
Christians, — generally  with  the  ulterior  idea  that  if  only 
such  league  can  be  made  large  enough  and  strong  enough 
the  Christians  left  outside  can  be  either  brought  in  or  put 
down.  I  have  my  own  reasons  for  doubting  whether 
Catholic  Unity  will  ever  be  arrived  at  by  that  road  ; 
which  was  a  good  reason  for  not  going  on  to  Bonn  to  see 
what  was  visible  to  the  public  of  Dr.  Dollinger's  pocket 
convention  for  "  tHe  re-union  of  the  churches."  But  then 
I  have  a  great  respect  for  all  honest  efforts  for  the  healing 
of  schism  ;  which  is  reason  enough  for  informing  myself 
and  the  Christian  Union  as  to  the  proceedings  and  results 
of  the  Bonn  meeting. 

The  meeting  was  held  simply  on  the  invitation  of 
Dr.  Dollinger,  addressed  to  certain  individuals  of  his 
acquaintance  in  the  Old  CatholiC;  Creek,  and  Protestant 

*  From  the  Christian  Union. 


CHRISTIAN  UNION  AT  BONN.  231 

Episcopalian  churches.  The  object  was  to  talk  over  the 
theological  differences  between  these  sects,  and  see 
whether  a  basis  could  be  found,  not  for  consolidation  or 
confederation,  but  for  mutual  recognition.  It  is  only  just 
to  the  venerable  Dullinger  to  say  that  his  interest  in  this 
question  of  the  possible  bringing  together  of  the  fragments 
of  divided  Christendom  is  no  new  thing.  It  has  been 
much  in  his  thought  and  writings  throughout  his  long  and 
splendid  career  as  a  theologian.  And  yet  one  can  not  but 
see  that  his  interest  in  it  has  been  intensified  and  made 
practical  by  his  new  position  as  leader  in  a  very  circum- 
scribed and  not  very  numerous  secession  from  the  Roman 
•Catholic  Church.  From  that  vast  communion  within 
which  his  whole  life  has  revolved  he  finds  himself  and  his 
colleagues  excluded.  It  is  both  natural  and  right  that 
they  should  reach  out  with  craving  for  fellowship  in  some 
other  direction. 

Happily,  the)^  have  not  to  reach  very  far  toward  the 
West  to  find  another  considerable  sect,  the  Protestant 
Episcopalians,  in  just  the  same  state  of  mind.  These  can 
hold  no  fellowship  with  their  Protestant  neighbors ;  and 
yet  the}^  have  thus  far  miserably  failed  in  their  attempts 
to  open  relations  of  communion  with  anybody  else. 
Naturally,  these  two  bodies, — though  representing  schools 
of  doctrine  which  have  denounced  each  other  for  three 
centuries  as  heretic  and  Antichrisij  and  though  pledged 
respectively  to  formularies  each  of  which  was  expressly 
intended  to  contradict  the  other  on  points  declared  to  be 
¥ital, — have  no  serious  difficulty  in  coming  to  a  good 
understanding.  But  when  it  is  desired  to  add  strength 
and  dignity  to  the  alliance  by  bringing  in  the  seventy -five 
millions   of  the  venerable  and  orthodox  Grreek  Church, 


232  CHRISTIAN  UNION  AT  BONN. 

who  are  not  in  the  least  conscious  of  needing  fellowship 
from  outside,  a  serious  difficulty  at  once  arises.  For  (tell 
it  not  in  Princeton ;  publish  it  not  in  the  streets  of 
Andover  and  New  Haven ;  lest  the  daughters  of  the 
Presbyterian  rejoice ;  lest  the  daughters  of  the  Puritan 
triumph  !)  the  Grreek  Church  does  not  consider  the 
Protestant  Episcopalian  to  have  any  valid  ordination  !  It 
allows  he  may  be  a  very  estimable  sort  of  person,  in  his 
way,  and  may  even  be  useful  as  a  lay  preacher,  according 
to  his  light.  But  as  for  the  genuine  succession  and  valid 
sacraments — bless  you  !  he  has  no  more  conception  of 
these  spiritual  blessings  than  the  most  benighted  Methodist 
or  Quaker !  This  is  the  view  which  the  G^reeks  generally 
take  of  the  Protestant  Episcopalian,  whether  English  or 
American ;  and  I  submit  that  considering  how  much  love 
has  been  spent  by  Episcopalians  on  the  Grreek  hierarchy, 
and  the  honest  pride  with  which  they  have  so  long 
boasted  of  their  "organic  connection"  with  the  Eastern 
churches,  it  is  not  at  all  kind  in  the  latter  to  disavow  the 
relationship.  At  the  same  time  it  is  a  beautiful  study  in 
human  nature  to  observe  how  Protestant  Episcopalian 
clergymen  take  it,  when  told  that  they  may  be  very  good 
men  but  have  no  right  to  call  themselves  ministers. 
I  judge  from  a  slightly  exasperated  remark  of  Bishop 
Kerfoot  that  he  did  not  like  it ;  but  I  may  be  mistaken. 
In  general,  the  English  and  American  brethren  seem  to 
have  shown  praiseworthy  meekness,  when  the  Eastern 
clergymen,  on  being  invited  by  Dr.  Dollinger  to  adopt  his 
proposition  affirming  the  validity  of  the  Anglican  ordina- 
tions, replied  that  they  would  take  it  home  and  think  about 
it.  So  then,  the  most  vital  question  to  the  English  and 
American   Episcopal    churches   in    this    matter     of    the 


CHRISTIAN  UNION  AT  BONN.  23o 

intercommunion  of  churches, — the  question  whether  they 
themselves  are  churches  at  all — lies  over  till  another  year. 
Dr.  Dollinger  feels  very  sure  that  they  are  churches,  and 
have,  if  not  a  first-rate,  at  least  a  pretty  fair  article  of 
apostolical  succession.  But  some  of  the  most  eminent  of 
the  Old  Catholics  have  expressed  to  me,  privately,  their 
serious  doubts  on  that  score,  and  quite  derided  the  idea  of 
resorting  to  the  Anglicans  for  the  consecration  of  a 
bishop.  It  is  very  desirable  that  this  question,  on  which 
the  hope  of  salvation  of  many  of  our  fellow-citizens  turns, 
should  be  authoritatively  settled.  It  is  a  great  pity,  and 
excessively  annoying  to  the  High  Church  party,  to  have 
it  lying  so  at  loose  ends  for  a  Avhole  year  to  come. 

Another  of  the  subjects  brought  forward  by  Dr. 
Dollinger  was  that  of  the  new  Roman  doctrine  of  the 
Immaculate  Conception  of  the  Virgin  Mary.  This  he 
proposed  to  condemn,  not  merety  as  unauthoritative,  but 
as  false.  A  young  Roman  Catholic  from  England,  who 
was  present  by  some  accident  which  it  will  be  well  for 
him  to  explain  the  next  time  he  goes  to  confession,  begged 
in  vain  that  such  a  declaration,  tending  to  hinder  any 
future  fellowship  with  conscientious  Ultramontane 
Christians,  might  not  be  made.  It  was  obvious  that  he  did 
not  understand  the  true  nature  of  a  Christian  Union 
platform — that  it  is  a  contrivance  to  exclude  certain  sorts 
of  Christians  ;  and  the  brethren  intended  to  be  shut  out 
by  this  little  arrangement  are  Ultramontane  Catholics  and 
non-Episcopalian  Protestants. 

I  need  not  dwell  in  detail  on  the  course  which  the  rest 
of  the  twelve  propositions  followed.  It  is  clear  enough 
that  the  discussion  was  mainly  a  renewal  of  that  old 
theological  game  in  which  doctors  holding  opposite  views 


234  CHRISTIAN  UNION  AT  BONN. 

amuse  themselves  with  contriving  forms  of  language  in 
which  they  can  unite  without  agreeing.  For  instance,  on 
the  capital  point  of  the  JiUoque  in  the  Creed — the  proces- 
sion of  the  Holy  Spirit  "  from  the  Son  " — there  were  two 
parties  present,  those  who  belie v^ed  it  to  be  a  true  doctrine 
but  inserted  in  the  Creed  without  authority,  and  those 
who  believed  it  to  be  both  unauthorized  and  a  flat  heresy. 
The  proposition  declaring  the  insertion  of  the  phrase  to 
have  been  unauthorized,  without  disparagement  to  the 
truth  contained  in  it,  was  made  acceptable  to  all  by 
amending  it  to  the  effect — "  the  truth  which  may  he 
contained  in  it,"  or  may  not  be.  Other  topics  presented 
were  :  the  authority  of  the  Scriptures  and  of  tradition  ; 
justification  by  faith ;  works  of  supererogation ;  the 
sacraments  ;  confession ;  prayers  for  the  dead ;  and  the 
sacrifice  in  the  Lord's  Supper. 

Doubtless  such  consultations  as  this  at  Bonn  are  not 
altogether  useless,  when  carried  on,  as  this  seems  to  have 
been,  in  a  good  spirit.  But  I  cannot  attach  to  this 
meeting  the  importance  which  some  of  my  friends  who 
were  there  attribute  to  it.  And  this  for  several  reasons, 
in  brief : 

1.  Because  the  agreement  attained  is  onl}^  apparent. 

2.  Because  even^this  result,  attained  by  a  few  select 
members  of  several  sects,  cannot  carry  their  sects  with 
them — as  Bishop  Kerfoot  would  doubtless  find  if  he  were 
to  tr}^  introducing  the  Bonn  theses  as  a  series  of 
resolutions  in  his  (general  Convention. 

3.  Doctrinal  variations  have  been  only  a  part,  and 
perhaps  not  the  largest  part,  of  the  causes  producing  and 
maintaining  the  schisms. 


CHRISTIAN  UNION  AT  BONN.  235 

4.  If  Christian  Union,  on  the  favorite  plan  of  uniting 
certain  Christians  to  the  exclusion  of  certain  other 
Christians,  were  carried  to  its  highest  conceivable  success, 
and  Christendom  were  consolidated  at  last  into  two 
mutually  exclusive  sects,  we  should  be  worse  off  and 
farther  away  from  real  Christian  union  than  we  are 
now. 

5.  The  basis  of  Catholic  unity — the  platform,  or  rather 
the  rock,  on  which  the  Church  Catholic,  the  communion 
of  saints,  is  built — is  not  dogma,  but  faith. 

6.  The  hopeful  way  out  of  the  practical  difficulties  of 
schism,  especially  in  America,  is  not  that  of  diplomacy 
among  doctors  of  divinity  of  various  sects,  but  that  which 
begins  at  the  other  end  with  seeking  a  way  of  reconciling 
local  sectarian  divisions  in  little  villages.  I  believe  that 
the  Episcopal  church  in  America,  if  it  only  knew  its  own 
mission,  has  some  grand  advantages  for  this  work.  If  it 
could  rid  itself  of  sundry  canons  that  bind  it  hand  and 
foot,  abate  a  little  of  that  high  and  and  mighty  tone 
which  is  so  apt  to  make  people  smile,  and  apply  to  such  a 
ministry  of  reconciliation  one  half  of  the  energy  now 
expended  in  fomenting  local  schisms  at  home,  and  in 
begging  for  recognition  and  Christian  union  at  the  ends 
of  the  earth,  it  might  do  a  great  thing  for  itself,  and  a 
greater  thing  for  American  Christianity,  and  make  all 
other  Christian  communions  grateful  to  it  in  spite  of 
themselves. 

The  personnel  of  the  meeting  was  respectable.  The 
only  notable  representatives  of  Anglican  theology  were 
Bishop  Harold  Browne,  Dean  Howson,  and  Canon 
Liddon,  but  these  were  certainly  enough.  But  the 
meeting    mainly     consisted     of    Dr.    Dollinger,    whose 


236  CHRISTIAN  UNION  AT  BONN. 

octogenarian  vigor,  complete  command  of  every  con-^ 
troversy  involved,  and  polyglot  readiness  in  acting  both 
as  chairman  and  as  interpreter  for  discussion  between 
speakers  of  different  languages,  were  the  theme  of  every- 
body's wonder. 


'>^^s:fyy^>oos^^ 


ON  FORCING  JESUS  TO  BE  KING.  237 


XII. 


ON  FORCING  JESUS   TO  BE  KING 


AND  IN  FAVOR  OF  THE  SUNDAY  LAWS. 


NOTE. 

At  a  meeting  in  the  Maryland  Institute,  Baltimore,  March  11, 
1872,  which  was  "attended  by  an  immense  concourse,"  the 
following  resolutions,  having  been  read  in  the  German  and  English 
languages,  "were  adopted  without  a  dissenting  vote  :  " 

Eesolved,  That  we  consider  Sunday  as  a  day  of  rest  and 
restoration — of  rest  from  all  work  not  absolutely  necessary,  and  of 
restoration  of  body  and  mind  from  six  days'  labor. 

Resolved,  That  in  the  country  in  which  religious  liberty  is 
constitutionally  warranted,  every  man  must  be  allowed  to  keep  his 
own  mind  and  heart. 


238  ON  FORCING  JESUS  TO  BE  KING. 

Besolved,  That  the  application  of  force  against  a  large  number 
of  citizens  who  consider  Sunday  as  a  day  of  restoration  is  a 
violation  of  rights  warranted  by  the  Constitution  of  the  land  which 
ought  to  be  abolished  without  hesitation. 

Besolved,  That  we,  in  consideration  of  prevailing  prejudice, 
consent  to  a  closing  of  places  of  entertainment  until  1  o'clock  p.m. 
on  Sunday,  but  that  from  that  hour  we  claim  our  indisputable  right 
of  keeping  our  day  of  restoration  according  to  our  own  inclinations, 
for  we  wish  neither  to  disturb  nor  be  disturbed. 

Besolved  therefore,  That  according  to  our  views,  at  1  p.m.  on 
Sunday  every  place  of  amusement  may  be  opened,  and  that  by  the 
term  "place  of  amusement"  we  mean  to  signify  inns,  restaurants, 
concert  gardens  and  saloons,  cigars  and  confectionery  stores, 
mineral  water  stands,  theatres  and  the  like. 

Besolved,  That  in  order  to  enhance  public  morals  the  person 
who  is  intoxicated  or  conducts  \\\mQQ\{  improperly,  should  be  subject 
to  the  punishment,  and  not  the  licensed  man  of  business  whose 
interest  it  naturally  is  to  do  as  extensive  a  business  as  possible. 
"Punish  the  slave  of  passion,  not  the  business!"  this  principle, 
acknowledged  by  the  French  and  German  Legislatures,  ought  to 
be  introduced  into  this  country. 

Besolved,  That  the  observation  of  Sunday  is  a  social  institution 
which  is  connected  with  religion  by  sheer  accident.  As  a  religious 
institution  Sunday  is  a  despotic  measure,  which  imposes  an  ob- 
servance  also  upon  the  Israelite,  who  observes  the  seventh  day, 
and  to  the  Mohammedan,  who  celebrates  Friday  as  his  day  of  rest, 
while  by  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  no  religious  sect 
has  a  right  to  impose  its  religious  tenets  upon  society  at  large. 

Berolved,  That  the'Je  resolutions  be  laid  before  the  present 
Legislature  of  Maryland  with  a  petition  that  said  body  modify  the 
Sunday  laws  so  as  to  grant  that  all  places  of  amusement  be  allowed 
to  be  opened  on  Sunday  from  and  after  1  o'clock  p.m. 

The  above  resolutions  provoked  replies  from  many  of 
the  Baltimore  pulpits  and  among  them  the  follovring 
Sermon,  preached  in  the  Congregational  Church  on 
March  17th,  and  published  at  the  time  in  a  pamphlet. 


ON  FORC'lN(;  .IESL'8  TO  BE  KING.  239 

John  VI,  15.  When  Jesus  therefore  perceived  that  they  would 
come  and  take  him  by  force  to  make  him  a  king,  he  departed  again 
into  a  mountain  himself  alone. 

At  the  outset  of  all  our  inquiries  on  the  question  now 
pending  before  the  public  of  the  State  of  Maryland,  let  us 
lay  down  this  axiom,  that  Law  cannot  enforce  Religion; — 
not  ought  not,  or  had  better  not,  but,  absolutely  and 
utterly,  cannot-  It  may  compel  conformity  and  uniformity 
in  outward  rites.  It  may  offer  inducements  which  shall 
persuade  men  to  hypocrisy.  But  religion  is  a  thing 
beyond  the  sphere  not  only  of  its  proper  action,  but  of  its 
possible  action.  All  the  help  which  it  can  offer  to  religion 
by  the  exhibition  of  rewards  and  penalties  is  only  a 
hindrance  and  a  hurt,  and  no  help  at  all.  Therefore  it  is 
in  the  name  of  religioii,  and  for  the  sake  of  its  purity  and 
true  prosperity,  that  we  protest  against  all  meddling  by 
the  State,  however  well  intended,  with  pure  questions  of 
religious  faith  and  worship.  It  hurts  true  religion  to  be 
assisted  by  force. 

I  do  not  deny  that  there  are  other  valid  grounds  on 
which  to  object  to  such  interference.  It  is  perfectly 
competent  for  citizens  in  their  political  assemblies  and 
through  their  political  organs  to  object  to  it  on  principles 
of  political  philosophy,  as  being  detrimental  to  the  State. 
But  here  I  am  speaking  as  a  Christian,  and  I  have  a  far 
graver  protest  against  it,  as  being  detrimental  to  the 
Church  and  Kingdom  of  Jesus  Christ.  His  Kingdom  is 
not  of  this  world  ;  else  would  his  servants  fight  for  it — 
else  would  they  caucus  and  intrigue  and  vote  and  legislate 
for  it — acts  which  have  no  significance  except  as  they 
imply  enforcement  by  fighting  m  the  last  resort.  The 
*'  kingdom  which  is  not  of  this  world,""  is  sustained  by  far 


240  ON  FORClNt^  JESUS  TO  BE  KING. 

other  influences.  That  kingdom  is  realized  when  "  they 
that  are  of  the  truth  hear  the  voice"  of  him  who  is  The 
Truth,  and  freely  T)bey  and  follow  him.  But  when  men 
would  "  come  and  take  Jesus  by  force  and  make  him 
king,"  before  they  are  aware  of  it  he  has  departed  from 
among  them.  It  has  been  tried  often  enough,  and  has 
there  ever  been  any  other  result  ? 

The  principle  applies  without  limitation  to  all  methods 
of  legislation — that  is,  application  of  public  force — for  the 
advancement    of   religion,    whether    in    the    gross    old- 
fashioned  form  of  the  establishment  of  a  sect  or  church, 
or    the    more    absurd   modern    European    form     of    the 
establishment  of  many  sects  at  once,  or  the  newer  device 
of  a  religious  amendment  to  the  Constitution,  not  intended 
for  practical  use,  but  only  to  look  well ;  or  the  method  of 
subsidies  to  promote  religious  education  by  certain  sects  ; 
or  the  enforcement  of  a  modicum  of  religious  education  by 
the  State  in  its  own  schools.   It  is  perfectly  competent  for 
statesmen   and  publicists  to   argue  that  such  things  are 
good   for   the-  State,   that  they  add  to  its   dignity  and 
stability,    that   they   improve    the    qualifications    of   the 
citizen  both  as  subject  of  law  and  as  maker  and  sustainer 
of  law.     But  when  all  this  has  been  said,  the  conclusive 
answer  remains  t£at  however  good  such  a  course  may  be 
for  the  State,  it  is  bad  for  the  Church.     The   Church   of 
Christ  cannot  afford  to  grant  to  the  State  the  privilege  of 
patronizing  it. 

The  same  axiom,  already  applied  so  far,  applies  still 
further  and  conspicuously  to  laws  intended  to  procure  the 
sanctification  (mark  the  word  !)  of  a  Sabbath-day.  "  Force 
•cannot  make  a  day  holy.  Acts  of  legislatures  and  of 
-connnon   councils  may   make   a    day  silent,  and   keep  it 


ON  FORCING  JESUS  TO  BE  KING.  241 

quiet;  but  they  cannot  keep  it  holy;  and  perhaps  they 
will  discover  that  they  can  keep  it  quiet  only  for  a  little 
while.  Holiness  is  a  thing  of  liberty,  not  a  thing  of  force. 
If  the  observance  of  the  Lord's  day  is  to  be  a  holy 
observance  it  must  be  a  free  observance.  If  men  'come 
to  take  Jesus  by  force  and  make  him  a  king, '  he  will 
withdraw  himself  alone.  The  service  which  is  acceptable 
in  his  sight  must  be  a  reasonable  service,  a  willing 
■service."  ^  Without  this,  all  that  the  law  can  do,  is  to 
produce,  under  the  garb  of  a  constrained  decorum,  such 
"  new  moons,  and  Sabbaths,  and  appointed  feasts  "  as 
God's  "  soul  hateth;  they  are  a  trouble  to  him;  he  is 
weary  to  bear  them." 

Let  us  come,  then,  promptly,  unshrinkingly,  not  as  if 
dragged  along  at  the  heels  of  a  hostile  argument,  to  the 
only  conclusion  to  which  our  principles  can  possibly  lead, 
that  comidered  as  a  religious  institution — a  quasi-sacrament 
— the  keeping  of  a  Sabbatical  day  cannot,  in  the  nature 
of  the  case,  be  enforced  by  law;  and  that  attempted 
legislation  to  compel  the  santification  of  such  a  day  is 
necessarily  futile  and  impertinent,  and  worse.  It  is  of  a 
piece  with  other  legislation  for  the  enforcement  of 
religious  rites — with  compulsory  baptism,  and  the  eating 
of  the  Lord's  Supper  as  a  condition  of  holding  office 
- — things  which  it  is  shocking  so  much  as  to  name. 

Now  all  this  would  be  true  of  the  relation  of  secular 
law  to  the  sanctification  of  a  Sabbath-day  as  a  religious 
act,  even  if  it  were  admitted  to  be  a  religious  duty  by 
the  universal  consent  of  all  religions.  But  much  more 
than  this  is   true   when   we  consider  that  the  particular 

1.  Semions  ou  the  Sabbath  Question;  by  Gborqe  B,  Bacon.  New  York, 
Scribner  &  Co. 


242  ON  FORCING  JESUS  TO  BE  KING. 

Sabbatical  observance  in  question  is  the  characteristic  of 
the  Christian  religion — that  it  is  expressly  intended  to 
commemorate  an  event  and  a  doctrine  which  some  good 
citizens  (alas !)  deny  and  abhor,  and  to  which  some  others 
(more  pity  still!)  are  indifferent.  In  what  essential  respect 
does  the  compelling  of  the  Jew  to  keep  holy — to  pay 
religious  honor  to — the  memorial  day  of  the  resurrection 
of  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  differ  in  iniquity  from  the  compelling 
of  the  Protestant  to  uncover  and  kneel  in  the  street  at  the 
passing  of  the  Host?  When  we  reflect,  further,  that 
Christians  themselves  are  not  unanimous  in  regarding  the 
observance  of  this  day  at  all  as  a  duty  enjoined  by  divine 
law,  but  that  a  great  portion  of  them,  including  some  of 
the  best,  most  devout  and  most  learned,  regard  it  only  as 
an  excellent  custom  and  tradition,^  it  becomes  not  indeed 
more  true,  but  more  obvious  and  palpable,  that  there  are 
no  principles  acknowledged  in  our  government,  or  justly 
acknowledged  in  any  government,  which  can  justify  the 
legal  enforcement  of  the  religious  observance  of  the  day, 
or  authorize  the  legislature  to  deal  with  the  secularization 
of  the  day  as  being  of  itself,  and  independently  of  positive 
law,  an  immorality. 

This  is  the  end  of  that  argument.  Until  we  are  prepared 
to  advocate  the  esttiblishment  of  religion,  and  not  only  of 
religion  but  of  Christianity,  and  not  only  of  Christianity 
but  of  certain  forms  and  sects  of  Christianity,  we  cannot 
advocate  the  enforcement  of  the  religious  observance  of  a 
Sabbath  as  a  matter  of  public  morality. 

II.     We  come,  then,  to   consider  another  ground  on 


1.  Thoso  who  would  inform  themselves  as  to  the  history  of  Cliristian  theology 
on  this  point, as  indeed  on  all  points  related  to  the  present  subject,  are  referred  to 
that  exhaustive  work.  Cox's  "  Literature  of  the  Habbath  Question." 


ON  FORCING  JESUS  TO  BE  KING.  243 

which  the  interference  of  law  is  claimed  in  behalf  of  the 
Lord's  Day  as  a  religious  institution.  If  the  law  may  not 
be  summoned  to  enforce  a  religious  observance,  may  it  not 
be  called  on  to  j()rotect  it?  Undoubtedly,  yes.  The  principles 
of  religious  equity,  or  liberty,  not  only  do  not  forbid  this, 
they  require  it.  If  an  Arab  traveler  should  spread  his 
carpet  down  in  Monument  Square  at  the  hour  of  noon,  and 
finding  the  direction  of  Mecca,  should  begin  his  curious 
ritual  of  prostrations  and  crouchings,  it  would  be  the  duty 
of  the  police  to  protect  him  from  molestation  and 
annoyance.  If  there  were  a  company  of  such,  they  would 
have  an  equal  right  to  be  protected  in  their  devotions,  a 
right  limited  only  by  their  duty  not  to  perform  them  in 
such  places  as  to  incommode  the  honest  business  of  others, 
or  to  disturb  the  public  peace  and  order.  If.  this  were  a 
heathen  city,  amid  which  the  Christian  people  were  but  a 
little  flock,  marked  among  the  multitude  for  their  regular 
habit  of  gathering  on  the  first  day  of  the  week  for  their 
acts  of  worship,  it  woud  be  their  right  to  be  protected  in 
this  religious  usage;  and  to  molest  them  in  their  quiet 
Sunday  meditation  and  worship  and  abstinence  from 
work  would  be  religious  persecution.  And  now  that  they 
are  the  great  dominant  religion  of  the  city,  they  have  the 
same  right,  no  more  and  no  less — the  right  to  be  protected 
in  the  fulfilment  of  their  religious  duties.  The  fact  that 
they  are  more  numerous  and  stronger  does  not  add  to  their 
rights,  it  only  makes  it  easier  for  them  to  secure  the 
rights  they  had  before.  Might  does  not  make  Right. 

The  claim  is  perfectly  good  as  far  as  it  goes,  but  when 
it  is  stretched  beyond  this  point  it  is  good  for  nothing. 
When  you  undertake  to  make  this  right  to  \iQ  protected  in 
religious  observances  the  ground  and  basis  of  the  Sabbath 


244  ON  FORCING  JESUS  TO  BE  KING. 

laws,  you  have  got  your  basis  quite  too  small  for  your 
superstructure.    When  you  set  up  the  claim  that  in  order 
that  you  may  worship   tiod  in  spirit  and  in  truth,  your 
Jewish   neighbor    on    one    side,    and    your   Rationalist 
neighbor  on  the  other,  must  both  be  compelled  by  law  to 
suspend  their  secular  avocations,  you  stretch  your  claim 
of    protection   till   it   breaks.      You    make    a    law    of 
religious  liberty    which  is    singularly  akin  to  religious 
persecution.       It   is    worthy    of    note    that   almost    the 
only   wanton    public    obstructions    and    interruptions    of 
the  liberty   of  Christian  worship  in  this    country    have 
proceeded,    not   from    an    unchristian    or    anti- christian 
quarter,  but  from  the  arrogance  of  one  of  the  Christian 
sects,  conscious  of  a  political  influence  which  enables  it  to 
defy  the  law,  and  not  ashamed  to  obstruct  the   doors  of 
other  churches  by  its  processions,  and  drown  the  voice  of 
prayer  with  the  din  of  shouts  and  brazen  music  beneath 
their  windows.     This  is  an  invasion  of  religious  liberty. 
But  the  pretense  that  shops  and  billiard  rooms  must  be 
closed  in  order  to  secure  liberty  of  worship  to  Christians, 
is  so  thin  that  it  is  transparent. 

Do  we  then  give  up  the  whole  system  of  the  Sunday 
laws,  and  yield  to  the  demand  that  is  now  so  boldly 
pressed  upon  the  Xiegislature  of  the  State  for  the  repeal 
of  all  that  makes  them  effective  ?  God  forbid  !  Yea,  we 
establish  the  law.  Nothing  has  so  imperiled  it  as  the  false 
and  insincere  and  inconclusive  arguments  by  which  it  has 
been  attempted  to  maintain  it.  Its  enemies  have  not  done 
it  half  the  harm  that  its  defenders  have.  It  is  only  the 
beginning  of  a  successful  defense  to  abandon  an  untenable 
line  of  works  and  fall  back,  or  move  forward,  rather, 
u])on  an  impregnable  one.  It  is  by  far  the  most  important 


ON  FORCING  JESUS  TO  BE  KING.  245 

thing  to  be  done  in  protection  of  our  Sabbath  institution, 
to  eliminate  from  the  pending  discussion  the  irrelevances 
and  impertinences  with  which  it  has  been  cumbered.  We 
are  free,  now,  to  come  to  a  sober  argument  upon  the  duty 
of  the  Legislature. 

III.  The  question  before  the  Legislature,  and  therefore 
before  the  public,  their  constituents,  is  upon  the  main- 
tenance, not  of  a  religious  institution; — the  church  (that 
is,  the  Christian  people)  will  take  care  of  this;  the 
legislature  has  nothing  to  do  with  it ;  — but  of  a  civil  and 
"  social  institution."  "  I  thank  thee,  Jew,  for  teaching 
me  that  word  !  "  It  is  the  one  useful  truth  that  appears, 
clumsily  enough  stated,  in  all  that  series  of  self-stultified 
resolutions  which  were  passed  a  week  ago  in  the  Anti- 
Sabbath  meeting,  '^  Resolved  that  the  observation  of 
Sunday  is  a  social  institution,  which  is  connected  with 
religion,"  /  will  not  say  "  by  sheer  accident,"  but  by  no 
necessary  connection.  If  G  od  were  to  smite  the  earth 
with  a  curse,  and  all  religion  were  to  perish  out  of  the 
land  to-morrow,  this  legal  institution  would  still  remain, 
though  probably  it  would  not  remain  long.  But  what 
word  would  have  to  be  altered  in  all  the  present  Sunday 
law  of  the  State,  if  religion  were  utterly  to  cease?  What 
word  is  there  in  all  that  statute,  that  is  inconsistent,  I  will 
not  say  with  the  principle  of  religious  liberty  as  we 
have  here  enunciated  them,  but  even  with  the  principles 
enunciated  in  the  resolutions  of  that  Monday  Meeting  ? 

Now  how  is  this  civil  and  social  day  of  weekly  rest  to 
be  procured.  Every  body  wants  it ;  nobody  thinks  of 
giving  it  up.  Even  that,  curiously  mingled  meeting 
gathered  to  clamor  for  a  repeal  of  the  existing  law, 
resolved  "  without  a  dissenting  voice"  that  "  we  consider 


246  ON  FORCING  JESUS  TO  BE  KING. 

Sunday  as  a  day  of  rest."  It  does  not  appear  that  any, 
Christian  or  Heathen,  Jew  or  Gentile,  is  willing  to  give 
up  a  weekly  day  of  rest,  and  make  all  days  alike  before 
the  law.  Nay  it  does  not  appear  but  that  society  is 
absolutely  unanimous  in  agreeing  upon  the  first  day  of 
the  week  as  the  only  day  which,  in  the  present  state  of  our 
society  can  be  secured  for  that  purpose.  We  do  not  hear, 
even  from  our  Hebrew  fellow- citizens — a  class  of  citizens 
who  have  many  a  peculiar  claim  on  the  public  respect,  for 
many  admirable  virtues,  and  for  a  noble  record  in  some 
points  of  civil  duty — a  class,  withal,  to  whom  the  adoption 
of  the  first  day  of  the  week  instead  of  the  seventh  as  the 
civil  Sabbath,  involves  a  special  disadvantage — we  do  not 
hear  even  from  these  any  suggestion  that  any  day  but 
Sunday  should  be  set  apart  by  law  as  a  day  of  rest. 
Society  seems  unanimously  resolved  that  it  will  have  its 
Sunday. 

And  no  wonder.  On  the  institution  of  the  civil  Sabbath, 
reinforced  as  it  is  by  the  religious  feeling  of  the  mass  of 
the  community,  depends  no  man  can  tell  how  much  of  our 
material  prosperity,  our  social  order,  our  prevailing 
culture,  to  say  nothing  of  our  religious  worship  and  our 
public  charity  and  humanity.  It  is  on  the  institution  of 
the  public  Sabbathjr  planting  its  frequent  waymarks  along 
the  course  of  time,  that  we  depend  for  the  division  of  time 
into  weeks  ;  and  how  much  of  the  general  thrift,  activity 
and  regularity  of  business  depends  on  this,  no  man  can 
guess,  that  has  not  seen,  in  lands  without  a  Sabbath,  how 
business  drags  on  its  dull,  unbroken,  interminable  course, 
never  resting,  and  therefore  never  speeding.  So  interlaced 
are  the  roots  of  this  "social  institution"  with  the  whole 
fabric  of  our  American  society,  that  it  could  not  be  torn 


ON   FORCING  JESUS  TO  BE  KING.  247 

up  without  disturbing  the  entire  structure.  Thoughtful 
foreigners  acknowledge  the  advantages  of  this  institution 
in  words  which  those  men  would  do  well  to  ponder,  who 
are  in  a  hurry  to  tamper  with  its  safeguards.  The 
illustrious  Count  de  Mcuitalembert,  the  glory  of  the 
Catholic  Church  of  France  in  his  generation,  in  advocating 
in  the  French  Legislative  Body,  some  twenty  years  since, 
-B  bill  to  secure  the  better  observance  of  the  Lord's  Day, 
answered  the  cavils  of  the  materialists  and  economists 
that  the  nation  could  not  afford  to  suspend  all  productive 
labor  for  one  seventh  part  of  the  year,  by  pointing  to 
(xreat  Britain  and  the  United  States  of  America,  the  two 
countries  of  all  the  world  in  which  the  Sabbath  rest  is 
most  rigorously  enforced,  and  the  two  in  which  all 
productive  industries  are  most  prosperous.* 

Society  is  agreed  then  that  it  will  have  its  Sunday  of 
rest.  But  how  is  Society  to  get  it?  A¥ill  it  come  of 
itself?  Will  the  unanimous  consent  of  the  people  that 
the  day  should  be  kept  free  from  the  encroachments  of 
business,  be  a  sufficient  security  for  it,  without  law  ?  Just 
as  much  as  the  unanimous  agreement  of  the  property 
owners  on  Baltimore  Street  would,  without  law,  preserve 
the  line  of  the  street  from  encroachments — ^just  so  much 
-and  no  more.  It  is  the  general  interest  of  the  whole 
property  and  every  part  of  it,  on  both  sides  of  the  way, 
that  the  width  of  that  street  should  not  be  reduced.  You 
could  get  a  unanimous  remonstrance  from  every  person  in 
the  city  against  an  act  making  it  possible  for  the  owners 

1.  I  quote  from  my  memory  of  the  debate  as  reported  in  the  French  newspapers 
of  the  time.  The  only  answer  made  to  this  argument  of  the  Catholic  Count  wa» 
a  cry  from  the  opposite  benches  "These  are  two  Protestant  countries,"— which 
was  undoubtedly  true,  and  perhaps  embarrassing'  to  the  speaker,  but,  after  all, 
not  much  to  the  purpose. 


248  ON  FORCING  JESUS  TO  BE  KING, 

of  frontage  on  that  street  to  build  out  on  it  a  single  yard. 
What  is  the  need  of  law,  then,  to  protect  the  line  of  that 
street  ?  And  yet  is  there  any  one  so  dull  as  not  to  know 
that  it  is  only  by  the  force  of  law  that  the  object  of  the 
unanimous  desire  can  be  secured  ? — that  but  for  the  law, 
encroachment  would  follow  encroachment,  the  encroach- 
ment of  one  excusing  and  necessitating  the  encroachment 
of  his  neighbor,  until  the  great  thoroughfare  was  choked, 
and  the  interest  of  the  whole  had  been  defeated  by  the- 
selfishness  of  the  individuals  ?  It  is  so  with  the  great 
common  rest  opened  in  the  midst  of  the  toil  of  the  week,^ 
like  the  village  green  reserved  for  public  refreshment  and 
delight  amid  the  bustling  streets  of  a  New  England 
village,  sacred  from  the  invasion  of  business,  where  the 
children  of  the  rich  and  poor  msiy  play  alike,  where  the 
sacred  graves  of  other  generations  wake  tender  thoughts 
and  holy  memories,  and  amongst  them  the  church  of 
Christ  invites  to  prayer  and  praise,  '*  and  points  with  taper 
spire  to  heaven."  The  whole  people  wants  it ;  ev^erybody 
is  willing  to  reserve  it,  on  condition  that  the  rest  shall  be 
required  to  reserve  it  too.  Only,  if  there  is  to  be  no  law 
about  it,  and  these  immemorial  rights  of  the  public  are  to 
be  left  open  to  a  general  scramble,  in  which  the  earliest 
squatter  on  the  pul^lic  privilege  will  get  the  biggest  share, 
then  it  is  too  much*  to  hope  from  human  nature  that  the 
scramble  will  not  begin. 

We  reach,  then,  this  clear  and  unmistakable  principle 
— that  THE  LiHERTY  OF  Rest  for  each  man  depends  upon 
A  Law  of  Rest  for  all. 

It  has  been  found,  in  the  course  of  the  agitations  of 
"  the  Sunday  question"  which  have  prevailed  so  sharply 
of  late  in  England  that  there  is   rarely  any  difficulty  in 


ON  FORCING  JESUS  TO  BE  KING.  249 

getting  the  general  petition  of  the  men  of  any  business — 
the  barbers  for  instance — that  all  the  shops  of  their  own 
business  may  be  closed  on  Sunday  by  law.  Why  by  law  ? 
If  nearly  all  the  barbers  in  London  want  their  shops 
closed,  why  don't  they  close  them  ?  Simply  because  the 
opening  of  any  half-dozen  of  them  almost  necessitates  the 
opening  of  the  rest.  There  is  no  Liberty  of  Rest  without 
a  Law  of  Rest.  It  is  for  the  State  to  say  whether  it  is 
consistent  with  the  public  good  to  grant  the  privilege  of 
rest,  by  law,  to  this  vocation,  or  whether,  like  the 
business  of  physicians,  or  of  the  employees  of  the  city 
rail-road,  it  is  of  such  a  nature  as  to  require  to  be 
excepted  from  this  privilege. 

This  ''■  social  institution,*'  then,  of  a  public  day  of  rest, 
which  we  are  all  agreed  that  vv^e  want  and  will  have,  is 
the  creature  of  positive  law.  And  what  the  law  creates 
the  law  can  regulate.  The  moment  that  the  authors  of 
these  resolutions  admit  that  they  want  any  Sunday  rest  at 
all,  that  they  are  not  in  favor  of  sweeping  the  statute- 
book  clean  of  all  distinction  of  days  and  making  every 
day,  alike,  they  give  up  their  whole  case. 

If  it  is  right,  and  just,  and  constitutional,  and  consistent 
with  religious  liberty  to  have  any  Sunday  at  all,  it  is  right 
to  have  a  whole  Sunday,  If  it  is  constitutional  to  shut 
up  a  dry-goods  store,  it  is  constitutional  to  shut  up  a 
grog-shop.  If  it  is  right  to  shut  up  a  broker's  office,  or  a 
bank,  it  is  right  to  shut  up  a  theatre.  If  it  is  right  to 
close  a  book-store,  it  is  right  to  close  a  billiard  room.  If 
it  is  right  to  shut  any  of  these  till  one  o'clock,  it  is  right 
to  keep  them  shut  till  midnight. 

Why,  look  for  at  moment  at  the  blockhead  impudence 
of  these  resolutions.   It  appears  that  they  were  translated 


250  ON  FORCING  JESUS  TO  BE  KING. 

into  English  for  the  benefit  of  those  in  that  meeting  that 
were  acquainted  with  the  English  tongue.  The  translation 
was  not  well  done.  Let  rae  render  them  into  a  little 
plainer  English  : 

1.  Resolved,  That  this  meeting  being  largely  composed 
of  aliens  and  foreign-born  citizens  more  or  less 
unacquainted  with  the  language  in  which  the  Constitutions 
and  Laws  are  written  are  unanimously  agreed  that  the 
immemorial  laws  made  by  the  people  who  made  the 
Constitution  are  unconstitutional. 

2.  Resolved  J  That  since  these  laws  are  unconstitutional, 
and  therefore  null  and  void,  and  incapable  of  being 
enforced,  it  is  very  important  to  our  liberty  that  they 
should  be  repealed  by  the  legislature. 

3.  Resolved,  That  although  is  it  grossly  unjust, 
oppressive,  unconstitutional,  and  inconsistent  with  religious 
liberty  to  make  any  man  shut  up  his  store  at  all;  never- 
theless we  advocate  a  law  requiring  that  stores,  shops  and 
places  of  business  of  every  sort  shall  be  closed  every 
Sunday  until  one  o'clock  p.m. 

4.  Resolved,  That  although  we  hold  it  to  be  unjust  and 
unconstitutional,  we  are  further  in  favor  of  interdicting  by 
law  the  exercise  of  all  ordinary  honest  and  useful  trades 
and  employments  from  one  o'clock  p.m.,  till  midnight. 
But— 

5.  Resolved,  That  in  view  of  the  strong  claims  upon  the 
special  and  exceptional  favor  of  the  State,  presented  by 
liquor-shops,  theatres,  bar-rooms,  concert-saloons,  dance- 
houses,  and  the  like,  as  promoters  of  sound  morality, 
material  prosperity,  public  intelligence,  domestic 
happiness,  and  peace  and  good  order  in  society,  they 
ought  to  be   specially  privileged  by  Act  of  Legislature 


ON  FORCING  JESUS  TO  BE  KING.  251 

above  all  other  forms  of  business,  by  having  the  time  from 
one  P.M.  till  midnight  on  Sunday  of  each  week  set  apart 
for  their  exclusive  advantage  and  behoof,  no  commercial 
business  within  those  hours  being  lawful,  excepting  the 
retail  trade  in  beer,  whisky  and  cigars. 

Pah  !  the  whole  movement  smells  of  its  birth-place  !  It 
has  the  stale  bar-room  odor  of  bad  whisky  and  tobacco. 

But  glance  for  an  instant  at  the  proposition  in  another 
aspect.  Have  the  employees  of  all  these  privileged  forms 
of  business  no  rights  of  rest  which  we  are  bound  to 
respect  ?  Is  there  to  be  do  respite  to  their  wasting, 
dissipating  labor  ?  To  permit  one  theatre  to  open  is,  as 
we  have  seen,  to  compel  them  all  to  open,  and  to  make 
this  privileged  day  the  busiest  day,  for  them,  of  all  the 
week?  Have  we  no  mercy  on  the  toilsome  profession  of 
the  stage,  that  we  should  forbid  to  its  jaded  followers  the 
common  privilege  of  the  public  ? 

These  be  brave  reformers,  protesting  against  arbitrary 
distinctions  !  What  law  have  we  now  so  arbitrary, 
capricious,  despotic,  as  this  which  they  present  to  us  in 
the  name  of  equal  rights  ?  By  what  principle  do  they 
discriminate  ?  If  beer-shops  may  open,  why  not  fancy 
stores  ?  If  the  shop-boy  must  have  his  billiards  and  his 
cigars,  may  not  the  shop-girl  have  her  ribbon,  and  her 
brooch,  and  the  dear  delight  of  shopping  V  By  what 
tyrannical  distinction  do  your  forbid  our  Hebrew  fellow- 
citizens,  now  bearing  with  such  honorable  fidelity  the 
burden  of  a  double  Sabbath,  to  open  their  shops  of  fancy 
wares  ?  and  if  these,  why  not  others  ?  and  why  not  turn 
our  tranquil  Sunday,  the  glory  of  Baltimore  among  the 
cities  of  the  land,  into  a  universal  market  day? 

No,  gentlemen  of  the  Legislature!     If  you  accept  this 


252  ON  FORCING  JESUS  TO  BE  KING. 

petition,  call  your  enactment  by  its  true  name!  Let  it  be 
an  act  entitled  An  Act  to  give  Special  Privilege  and 
Encouragement  to  the  Sale  of  Intoxicating  Li'juors,  and 
Special  Advantages  in  Business  to  those  who  have  no 
religious  regard  for  the  Christian  Sabbath. 

A  public  holiday  is  a  public  peril.  A  necessity  it  may 
be, — it  is;  but  the  history  of  all  nations  shows  it  to  be  a 
dangerous  necessity.  The  State  which  by  positive 
enactment  institutes  this  dangerous  blessing,  striking  off 
all  the  common  restraints  of  regular  industry,  is  bound  to 
guard  it  to  the  utmost  from  abuse.  It  has  no  right  with 
one  hand  to  lock  the  door  of  the  factory  against  honest 
industry,  and  turn  the  artisan  population  into  the  street, 
and  with  the  other  hand  to  fling  wide  all  the  enticing 
portals  of  temptation.  Wives  and  mothers  who  tremble 
now  when  J^  ew  Year's  morning  dawns,  in  fear  lest  at  night 
those  whom  they  love  shall  be  tumbled  in  upon  them 
through  the  street  door,  drunk — have  a  righteous  claim 
upon  the  State  that  it  shall  not  make  fifty-two  such  holidays 
in  the  year,  nor  loose  the  iron  band  of  industry  without 
tightening  the  rein  of  salutary  law.  The  great  productive 
and  commercial  industries  of  the  State  have  rights  in  this 
matter.  They  know  the  finan'cial  loss  there  is  in  a 
disordered  Sabbath;  and  they  may  well  take  their  resolute 
stand  at  the  door  of  the  State-house,  and  demand,  in  a  tone- 
not  to  be  disregarded,  that  if  the  State  interferes  to  take 
their  employees  out  of  business  on  Saturday  night,  it  shall 
also  interfere  to  save  them  from  being  returned  to  business 
on  Monday  morning,  exhausted,  demoralized,  debauched. 

In  pointing  out  the  duty  of  the  State  in  this  matter^ 
we    need    not    go    beyond    the    fonniila    of   the    merest 


ON   FORCING  JESUS  TO  BE  KING.  253 

Benthamite   utilitarianism:    the   State  must  consult   the 
Greatest  Good  of  the  Greatest  Number. 

Where  shall  it  find  the  people's  Greatest  (iood?  In 
frolic  and  gaiety — in  concerts,  dancing  and  theatricals — 
in  unrestricted  beer,  whisky  and  billiards?  We  would 
refer  these  profound  students  of  the  Constitution  to  the 
clauses  in  which  that  instrument  shows  in  what  esteem 
the  State  holds  Religion  as  a  public  good.  Here  is  all 
that  Religion  asks  of  the  State — to  give  her  a  fair  chance 
— ^just  an  opportunity;  and  this  is  all  that  the  State  can 
d.0  for  her.  She  stands  beside  the  State  as  Paul,  the 
chained  ApostlQ,  stood  beside  the  Roman  governor  upon 
the  castle  stairs,  while  underneath  the  people  cried  "  Away 
with  him," — and  said  to  the  chief  captain  "  I  beseech 
thee,  suffer  me  to  speak  to  the  people."  She  asks  for  an 
interval  of  silence,  amid  the  tumult  and  roar  of  this  busy 
throng,  that  people  may  hear  in  their  own  tongue  the 
wonderful  works  of  God;  for  one  quiet  day  of  sober 
thought,  in  which  men  may,  if  they  will,  hear  the  voice 
of  wisdom  lifted  in  the  streets,  and  crying  to  the  simple 
ones.  She  asks  no  privilege  above  infidelity  and  error. 
She  bids  them  welcome  to  the  same  opportunity, — to 
open  their  halls  and  circles,  and  bring  forth  their  strong 
reasons  before  the  public.  Religion  does  not  fear  the 
r<5sult.  The  thoughtful  verdict  of  a  sober  people  on  that 
issue  never  has  been  doubtful.  For  shame.  Infidelity  ! 
You  dare  not  meet  the  Church  of  God  before  a  sober 
people  on  a  quiet  Sunday  !  You  are  skulking  from  the 
encounter  behind  this  rabble-rout  of  greedy  rum-sellers 
and  showmen  !  You  have  appealed  from  Philip  sober  to 
Philip  drunk — if  you  can  make  him  drunk  ! 

And  the  good  of  the  (rreatest  Number — how  is  this  to 


254  ON  FORCING  JESUS  TO  BE  KING. 

be  attained  ?  Would  you  have  an  example  of  how  to 
deal  with  this  question  in  the  spirit  of  the  broadest 
republican  equality  ?  Seek  it  in  the  terms  of  that  ancient 
statute-book,  which  from  an  antiquity  of  more  than  three 
thousand  years  before  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
presents  to  us  still  the  fairest  pages  in  the  history  of 
jurisprudence  : — "In  it  thou  shall  not  do  any  work,  thou^ 
nor  thy  son,  nor  thy  daughter,  nor  thy  manservant,  nor 
thy  maidservant  nor  thy  ox,  nor  thy  ass,  nor  any  of  thy 
cattle,  nor  thy  stranger  that  is  within  thy  gates ;  that  thj 
manservant  and  maidservant  may  rest  as  ivell  as  thou.'"  In 
the  very  spirit  of  this  just  and  equal  law  is  that  existing 
law  of  Maryland  which  provides  a  Sabbath  for  the  whole 
people ; — which  interferes  with  no  man's  religious 
convictions,  either  to  violate  them  or  to  enforce  them ;  but 
without  respect  of  persons  imposes  for  a  few  sacred  hours 
on  all  the  stormy  competitions  of  the  week, — on  its 
grinding  toil,  its  heady  passions,  its  noisy  amusements, 
the  blessed  Truce  of  (rod. 

It  is  the  remark  of  no  religious  zealot,  but  of  one  of  the 
coolest  and  shrewdest  observers  of  practical  politics, 
Horace  (Ireeley,  in  one  of  his  letters  from  Europe,  that 
we  are  shut  up  to  the  choice  between  the  Puritan  Sabbath 
and  the  Parisian  Sdbbath.  Shall  we  halt  long  between 
the  two  ?  Is  the  legislature  sitting  in  Annapolis,  or 
likely  to  sit  there  any  time  this  century,  that  will  venture 
to  vote  away  the  birthright  of  this  people — the  universal 
equal  privilege  of  rich  and  poor — and  substitute  for  it  that 
miserable  French  delusion,  a  Parisian  holiday,  through 
which  half  the  people  are  condemned  to  toil,  that  the 
(tther  half  may  frolic  ? 

Let  us  watch,  and  see  ! 


CHURCH  AND  THEA  TRE.  255 


XII. 


CHURCH    AND    THEATRE.* 


A  SERMON  ON  THEATRES  AND  THEATRErGOING. 


Romans,  XIV.,  5.  Let  every  man  be  fully  persuaded  in  his 
own  mind. 

A  recent  incident  in  the  city  of  New  York,  occasioned 
by  the  funeral  of  an  aged  actor,  has  given  rise  to  a  great 
deal  of  talk  in  all  parts  of  the  country,  and  made  a  certain 
'kittle  church  around  the  corner"  of  Twenty-Ninth  Street 
and  Fifth  Avenue,  New  York,  famous  in  all  the  newspapers. 

♦Preached  in  Baltimore,  January  22, 1871,  and  published  iu  a  pamphlet  with 
the  following  Prefatory  Note. 

The  author  of  the  following  sermon  apologizes  to  the  public  for  the  absence,^ 
on  this  page,  of  the  customary  letter  from  eminent  citizens  asking  a  copy  of  tlie 
"able  and  interesting  discourse"  for  the  press,  and  the  customary  reply 
assuring  them  that  it  was  "hastily  prepared  without  the  slightest  view  to 
publication."  Not  having  been  preached  with  the  hope  that  anybody  would  be 
pleased  with  it,  it  is  natural  enough  that  the  sermon  should  have  to  be  printed 
without  anybody's  having  requested  it.  It  was  written  for  the  purpose  of 
administering  certain  richly  and  long-deserved  rebukes  to  many  classes  of 
persons  both  inside  of  the  church  and  outside  ;  and  for  the  same  purpose  it  is 
printed.  Of  coarse  it  would  be  idle  for  one  who  volunteers  for  such  a  task  to 
grumble  if  his  work  is  not  welcomed.  The  author  will  be  content  not  to  be 
thanked,  if  only  he  may  be  heeded. 


256  CHURCH  AND  THEATRE. 

The  incident  is  chiefly  interesting  to  us  as  bringing  into 
court  again  that  old  case  of  the  Pulpit  ?\'^\  the  Stage, — the 
Church  against  the  Theatre,  which  has  been  litigated  now 
for  nearly  eighteen  hundred  years,  and  does  not  seem,  even 
yet,  to  have   been  fully  adjudicated.    And  here,  having 
taken  advantage  of  an  incident  of  no  lasting  interest  to 
introduce  a  subject  of  constant  and  general  importance,  we 
might  be  content  to   say  nothing  of  the  merits    of  the 
incident.    But  if  any  are  interested  to  hear  an  opinion  of 
them,  it  is  soon   given.     The  friends  of  an  aged  aotor, 
deceased,  against  whom  I  hear  nothing  alleged  but  that 
he  ivas  an  actor,  applied  to  the  rector  of  a  certain  church 
to  conduct  funeral  services  for  the  old  man,  at  the  church. 
He  declined  on  the  sole  ground,  as  I  understand,  of  the 
dead  man's  profession,  and  referred  the  applicants  to  the 
rector  of  a  "  little  church  around  the  corner,"  by  whom, 
and  at  whose  church,   the   funeral   was   attended.     The 
consequence  is,  that  the  minister  who  shirked  his  duty  is^ 
thoroughly  roasted  in  all  the  newspapers,  at  which  I  am 
very  glad;  and  the  minister  who  did  not  shirk  his  duty  is 
made  the  object  of  testimonials   in  all  the    theatres,    to 
which  I    certainl}'^  have  not  any  objection — if  he  has  not. 
He  is  said  to  be  so  good  and  faithful  a  man  that  one  can't 
think  of  grudging  him  overpraise  and  overpay,  for  a  duty 
So  obvious  and  simple  that  it   is  almost   incredible   that 
any  Christian  minister  could  have  refused  it.     As  for  the 
unfortunate  person  in  the  pillory,  there  seems  nothing  to 
be  said  in  mitigation  of  the  public  judgment  against  him 
— that  is,  supposing  the  facts  to  be  as  represented.     He 
appears  before  the  public  as  one  perfectly  willing  that  the 
scandal    against    the   church    (if  it   be    one)    should    be 
enacted,   provided    it  is   done  by  his  brother  around  the 


CHURCH  AND  THEATRE.  257 

corner,  and  his  name  rloes  not  get  mixed  up  with  it.     He 
stands,  not  only  as  one   "judging  another's  servant,"  but 
as  enforcing  against  an  individual  a  sweeping  condem- 
nation which  he  has  passed   in   his   own  mind,  upon   a 
profession  which  he  would  not  dare  deliberately  to  say 
was  necessarily  a  criminal  one.  He  seems  to  shut  out  from 
his  church  a  solemn  religious  service,  on  the  ground  that 
it  will  be  attended  by  a  throng  of  ungodl}^  and  unbelieving 
people — as   if    he   had    come    to    call   the    righteous    to 
repentance.     If  he  feels  some  burden    of   warning    and 
reproof  for  the  people  who  seek  his  ministrations,  why, 
in  (lod's  name,  doesn't  he  speak  it  out  to  them,  like  a 
man,    and    like    a   good,    kind,    loving    man,   instead    of 
running  away  like  Jonah?     If  he  pleads  that  he  is  shut 
up,  by  the  rules  of  his  denomination,  to  a  burial  service 
which   he   cannot   conscientiously   use    except    over   the 
graves  of  the  truly  penitent  and  believing,  that  is  a  matter 
for  him  to  see  to  as  promptly  as  may  be  ;  but  meanwhile, 
it  were  better  he  should  practice  his  scruples  on  his  own 
pewholders,  whose  sins  he  knows  about,  before  putting 
them  in  force  in  the  case  of  an  old  man  not  well  befriended 
within  the  church,  and  belonging  to  a  profession  whom  it 
is  easy  and  safe  for  a  clergyman  to  dislike.    Let  him  deny 
the  full  honors  of  Christian  burial,  if  he  has  the  courage, 
to    those    who    patronize    and    sustain,    for    their    sheer 
amusement,  that  profession  in  which  he  cannot  endure 
that  others  should  labor  toilsomely,  even  for  their  daily 
bread.     And  withal,  it  were  not  amiss   that  he   should 
consider  with  what  grace  this  little  spurt  of  zeal  for  (jod's 
house  comes  from  a  clergy  which  is  so   constantly  and 
assiduously,  and  without  one  word  of  protest,   courting 
recognition  and  fellowship  from  a  National  Church  whose 

17 


258  CHURCH  AND  THEATRE. 

''■  sole  head  under  Christ "  is  the  public  and  official 
patroness  of  the  theatre  ;  whose  cathedrals  are  paved  with 
the  grave-stones  of  actors,  and  whose  Westminster  Abbey 
insults  or  corrupts  the  moral  sense  of  successive  genera- 
tions by  displaying,  among  its  saints  and  heroes,  the 
monument  of  one  of  the  filthiest  of  the  filthy  dramatists 
of  the  Kestoration,  with  an  eulogy  upon  his  virtues 
(forsooth  !)  which  should  make  the  very  marble  on  which 
it  is  carved  to  blush  ! 

So,  if  you  want  my  opinion  on  this  reported  trans- 
action, I  do  not  at  all  undertake  to  decide  on  the  truth  of 
the  report,  neither  do  1  judge  the  motives  of  the  parties 
involved,  but  separating  the  act  from  the  actor,  it  seems 
to  me  a  disgusting  piece  of  Pharisaism — what  Frederick 
Robertson  was  wont  to  stigmatize  as  "  the  dastardly 
condemnation  of  the  weak  for  sins  that  are  venial  in  the 
strong  ;  "  what  a  greater  than  Robertson — his  Master  and 
mine — used  to  denounce  with  woe  upon  woe ;  and  what, 
as  I  would  be  faithful  to  my  Lord's  example,  I  hope  to 
strike  at  with  such  strength  as  I  have,  as  often  as  it  shall 
come  within  striking  distance. 

To  come  back  now  to  my  main  subject — the  duty  of  the 
church  and  of  Christian  people  with  reference  to  the 
theatre — this  tex^,  "  let  every  man  be  fully  persuaded  in 
his  own  mind,'^  is  the  very  text  that  fits  the  case.  For  on 
this  question*of  duty,  people  are  the  furthest  possible  from 
being  clearly  convinced  in  their  own  reason.  Whether 
the  course^of  action  commonly  agreed  upon  be  right  or 
wrong,  it  is  true  that  most  of  us  do  not  see  the  right  and 
wrong  of  it.  The^  church  is  living  in  this  matter  on 
certain  traditions  of  the  elders,  and  just  in  proportion  as 
it  is  inwardly  conscious  how  much  its  canons  of  duty  lack 


CHURCH  AND  THEATRE.  259 

authority,  it  proceeds  to  enforce  obedience  to  them  by 
mutual  censoriousness — a  sort  of  government  of  Mrs. 
Grundy.  In  exactly  the  same  proportion,  it  grows 
Pharisaic,  its  members  themselves  evading  the  traditionary 
canons,  in  the  authority  of  which  they  only  half  believe, 
and  combining  to  bind  heavy  burdens  for  other  men's 
shoulders,  which  they  themselves  will  not  touch  with  one 
of  their  fingers.  These  transgressions  of  the  conventional 
rule  of  chnrch-memberly  virtue  are  not  talked  of  much 
among  the  brotherhood  ;  they  are  held  to  be  of  very 
doubtful  propriety  themselves,  but  on  one  point  there  is 
felt  to  be  m)  doubt,  and  that  is,  that  it  is  eminently 
desirable  to  keep  the  facts  hushed  up,  so  that  the  salutary 
but  somewhat  vague  impression  in  the  religious  community 
that  going  to  theatres  is  wicked  may  be  kept  up  to  the 
utmost.  The  whole  subject  is  in  the  worst  possible 
position.  It  is  just  in  the  position  in  which  men  are 
most  apt  to  be  tempted  into  doing  "doubtful  things,  in  the 
doing  of  which  they  are  condemned  before  God  and  their 
own  consciences,  because  they  do  them  doubting.  I  do  not 
believe  the  theatre  could  be  one  half  so  demoralizing,  at 
its  worst  estate,  if  all  men  were  going  to  it  without  thought 
of  scruple,  as  it  is  now  when  men  are  only  half  deterred 
from  it  by  a  doubtful  scruple,  founded  on  the  tradition  of 
the  elders,  into  the  right  or  wrong  of  which  few  persons 
trouble  themselves  deliberately  to  inquire,  and  then 
conscientiously  to  determine,  and  frankly,  openly,  man- 
fully to  act.  Set  this  down  at  the  outset  as  one  point 
settled  by  the  word  of  God  beyond  all  reopening  or  appeal 
— that  however  the  general  question  may  be  settled,  your 
theatre-going,  my  Christian  brother,  which  you  only  do 
now  and  then  when  3^0 u  are  away  from  home,  and  which 


260  CHURCH  AND  THEATRE 

you  would  be  very  sorry  indeed  to  have  talked  about,  is  a 
sin  agamst  Grod,  and  you  ought  to  be  ashamed  of  it,  and 
I  have  no  doubt  you  are. 

I  propose  that  we  shall  know  our  own  reasons  in  this 
matter,  by  re-examining  the  grounds  of  the  traditionary 
argument  under  which  the  church  at  large  are  professing 
to  act. 

1.  We  must  acknowledge  in  the  first  place  that  some  of 
the  objections  to  the  theatre  which  prevailed  two 
generations,  or  even  one  generation  ago,  are  now  in  some 
cases  either  entirely  done  away  or  very  much  modified. 
The  abominable  accessories  of  the  theatre  which  old 
writers,  and  recent  writers  who  depend  on  the  old  for 
their  ideas,  inveigh  against  as  inseparable  from  the 
theatre  itself,  have  been  separated  from  it.  I  mean  the 
solicitations  to  drunkenness  on  the  premises  of  the  theatre, 
the  deliberate  provision  for  the  admission  of  lewd  women 
to  certain  parts  of  tbe  house,  the  arrangement  of  the 
building  to  encourage  and  facilitate  vice ;  all  these  have 
been  done  away,  at  least  in  many  cases.  Dr.  Vaughan, 
a  recent  eminent  English  traveller  in  the  United  States, 
remarks  on  the  difference  of  construction  of  an  American 
theatre  in  this  respect  from  an  English  one.  A  veteran 
off'icer  of  the  'New  York  police,  who  had  known  the 
theatres  of  that  city  before  and  behind  the  scenes  from 
his  boyhood,  assured  me  of  the  marked  change  that  had 
taken  place  in  the  administration  of  theatres  in  his  own 
day,  and  that  in  almost  all,  if  not  in  all,  of  the  theatres 
of  that  city  it  was  as  diff'icult  for  improper  characters  to 
gain  admisssion  as  in  any  places  of  amusement  whatever. 

The   universally    infamous    character    of    the     plays 
represented,  and   of  the   actors  representing  them,    was 


CHURCH  AND  THEATRE.  261 

one  of  the  counts  in  the  old  indictment  against  the  stage; 

and  it   was    one    on    which   it   was   impossible    to    help 

convicting.     Down  almost    till    within   the    memory   of 

men  now  living,  the  collection  of  the   stock   acting  plays 

of  the  English  stage   was   an   absolute  dung-hill   of  filth 

and  wickedness.     If  you  would  get  some  idea  of  it,  consult 

Sir   Walter   Scott's    History   of  the  Drama/    or   Lord 

Macaulay's  criticism  of  the  dramatists  of  the  Restoration, 

or  his  remarks  on  the  polite  literature  of  that  period  in 

the  second  volume  of  the  History  of  England.     But,   no  ! 

you  can  get  no  idea  of  it  from   description.     You   would 

have  to  turn   over  the  reeking  pages  of  some   series   of 

volumes   labelled  "  Old  Plays,"  and   the  knowledge  you 

would  get  would  not  pay  you  for  the   defiling  of  your 

hands.     And  this,  with  some  mitigations  in  favor — I  will 

not    say    of   virtue,    but    of   conventional    decency — has 

continued  to  be  the  prevailing  tone   of  stage  literature 

down,  almost,  to  our  own  day.     But  is  there  any  justice 

in  applying  to  the  acting  drama  of  our  day   the  epithets 

which   were   perfectly  just  so   lately  as  when   William 

Wilberforce  wrote  his  "Practical  View?''     Have   we  no 

language  but  that   of  denunciation   and  contempt  for  a 

literature  to  which  Sir  Edward  Lytton  has    contributed 

his  superb  historical  picture  of  Richelieu,   and  that  great 

scholar,  the  late  Dean  Milman   of  St.   Paul's   Cathedral, 

his  drama  of  the  Italian  Wife,  and  which,  by  translation 

or  adaptation,  has  been  enriched  from  the   master-pieces 

of  Schiller  and  Dickens  and  Charles  Reade '?    By  personal 

knowledge  I  know   almost  nothing — less   perhaps,  than, 

as  a  public  instructor,  I   ought  to  know — of  the  stage. 

But,  for  ten  years  past,  I   have   been   a  pretty  constant 

].  Eiicyclopjedia  Britaunica,  e.  v.  Drama. 


262  CHURCH  AND  THEATRE. 

observer  of  theatrical  advertisements  and  dramatic 
criticisms  in  the  New  York  press,  and  I  recogniJ:e;  with 
thankful  satisfaction,  that,  alongside  of  another  tendency, 
which  I  will  speak  of  by-and-by,  there  has  been  a 
growing  tendency  to  the  production  of  a  class  of  plays  of 
domestic  interest  and  faultless  purity — like  those  derived 
from  the  stories  of  Charles  Dickens.  How  far  these  may 
be  deformed  by  bad  acting,  I  have  no  knowlege ;  but  it 
must  take  a  very  ingeniouslj^  vicious  pla)^er  to  make  the 
representation  of  "  Little  Nell "  and  the  "  Cricket  on  the 
Hearth"  anything  but  wholesome  and  humanizing — and 
Christianizing. 

I  have  shown  that  some  of  the  traditionary  objections 
to  the  theatre  are  either  obsolete  or  very  much  modified. 

2.  I  propose  now  to  show  that  some  of  the  traditionary 
arguments  concerning  the  theatre  are  fallacious. 

Some  of  these  it  is  well  to  touch  lightly,  as  being  too 
frail  to  bear  severer  handling.  The  argument,  for  instance, 
that  the  drama  is  instrinsically  unfitted  to  please  a  superior 
mind,  is  best  advanced  by  those  who  have  never  known  of 
such  earnest  admirers  of  the  stage  as  (for  example) 
Walter  Scott  and  Sergeant  Talfourd.  The  complaint 
that  the  general  run  of  acting  is  sad  ranting  and  fustian 
is  as  true  now  as  ^er,  I  am  afraid — and  is  likely  to 
continue  so.  The  common  run  of  any  sort  of  human 
work  will  always  be  very  poor  as  compared  with  the  best. 
7Vnd  it  is  to  l)e  feared  that  the  best  acting  will  never  be 
the  most  popular  with  the  crowd.  It  is  so  in  literature. 
Mr.  Everett  had  no  sort  of  success  in  the  ^''Ledger"' 
compared  with  Mr.  Sylvanus  Cobb.  And  some  of  us 
preachers,  whose  congregations  are  not  large,  have  been 
known  to  comfort  ourselves  with    the  thought  that  it  is 


CHURCH  AND  THEATRE.  263 

somewhat  thus  with  preaching,  too,  and  that  the  best 
preacher  does  not  always  have  the  largest  audience.  It 
is  obvious  enough  that  these  little  side  arguments  have 
no  force  at  all.  Let  us  come  at  once  to  the  main 
argument  in  the  case,  as  it  is  earnestly  pressed  on  the 
consciences  of  the  Christian  public  by  some  of  the  best 
and  worthiest  writers  on  Christian  morality.  It  stands 
in  this  wise:  theatrical  amusements  are  apt  to  do  great 
harm,  and  they  are  not  necessary  to  us:  therefore,  we 
ought  totally  to  abstain  from  them.  Now  there  is  no 
doubt  that,  at  the  time  when  good  men  first  put  forth  this 
argument,  the  condiibion  was  perfectly  just — the  only 
conclusion  to  which  any  decent  Christian  man  in  those 
times  could  possibly  have  come.  But  it  concerns  us  a 
good  deal,  when  the  same  argument  is  presented  to  us  in 
other  circumstances,  to  look,  not  only  at  the  conclusion, 
but  at  the  process  by  which  it  is  reached.  Now,  will 
anybody  coolly  make  himself  responsible  to  maintain  the 
major  premise  in  this  argument — to  wit:  that  it  is  an 
invariable  duty  to  abstain  from  every  unnecesary  act  that 
has  a  tendency  to  do  harm?  Is  it  never  right  to  ask 
whether  the  abstinence  will  or  will  not  tend  to  avert  the 
harm?  or  whether  the  abstaining  may  not  do  more  harm 
than  the  act  would  have  done?  There  is  danger  in  any 
course  of  action  that  one  may  follow,  about  anything. 
The  Son  of  man  came  eating  bread  and  drinking  wine. 
Why  could  he  not  have  abstained?  It  was  not  necessary 
to  him;  and  see  what  harm  it  did !  "  Behold!  a  gluttonous 
man  and  a  wine-bibber."  But  John  the  Baptist  practiced 
total  abstinence,  and  men  said:  ^'  He  hath  a  devil.'' 

It  is  obvious  that  we  are  in  the  presence  of  a  different 


2(34  CHURCH  AND  THEATRE. 

set  of  facts  from  our  grandfathers,  and  that  we  need  a 
more  accurate  logic  in  dealing  with  them. 

What,  then,  is  the  present  situation  ? 

We  find  ourselves  confronted  with  a  wide-spread 
institution,  singularly  tenacious  of  life,  and  intrenched  in 
vested  interests  as  well  as  in  the  universal  public  taste, 
which  has  come  down  to  us  burdened  with  an  infamy 
which,  in  former  times,  at  least,  was  most  richly  deserved. 
It  must  be  admitted,  furthermore,  that  its  antecedents 
continue  to  infect  its  character.  The  Nen'  York  Tribune^ 
within  a  very  few  years,  complained  that  there  was  not  a 
stage  in  all  that  city  from  which  the  actors  did  not  insult 
the  audience  by  gratuitous  and  supererogatory  profaneness. 

An  old  stigma,  as  old  as  the  Roman  civilization,  rests 
upon  the  profession  of  the  stage-player;  and  notwith- 
standing many  very  honorable  examples  of  character,  it 
remains  true  to  this  day  that  the  profession,  as  a  whole, 
has  failed  to  recover  the  public  respect,  through  the 
prevailing  faults  of  so  many  of  its  members. 

But  then,  on  the  other  hand,  w^e  are  bound  in  the  merest 
justice  to  acknowledge  a  rapidly  increasing  tendency  to 
improvement  in  the  whole  conduct  Jof  the  stage  and 
theatre,  and  in  the  character  of  the  theatrical  profession. 
There  was  a  time  \vhen  to  take  the  name  of  actress  as  a 
synonym  for  infamy  was  a  most  sad  necessity.  To-day, 
the  man  who  makes  such  a  presumption  as  that  against  a 
lady  devoted  to  this  tr^ang  and  perilous  profession,  is 
guilty  of  a  wicked  calumny.  Tlie  profession  is  indeed 
most  perilous  and  trying  to  the  virtue  of  those  who  enter 
it.  But  for  that  very  cause,  there  are  those  in  it  whose 
fidelity  to  duty  shines  the  more  brightly.  And  there  are 
certain    traits    of    most    excellent     virtue — a    srenerous 


CHURCH  AND  THEATRE.  265 

overflow  of  kindness  towards  the  unfortunate,  a  quick 
sympathy  with  noble  acts  and  public  causes,  which  we 
can  hardly  look  to  find  more  honorably  exemplified  than 
in  the  guild  of  actors.  We  haven't  all  the  virtues  in  the 
church  ;  they  cannot  claim  a  monopoly  of  sins  in  the 
green  room.  A  very  little  while  ago,  my  attention  was 
called  as  a  pastor  to  an  aged  and  suffering  woman,  found 
by  one  of  our  city  missionaries  in  Brooklyn,  alone  and 
almost  friendless  in  a  garret,  suffering  for  lack  of  fire,  in 
the  cold  of  a  northern  winter.  It  seemed  a  case  of  strange 
and  unnatural  cruelty,  for  she  had  nourished  and  brought 
up  children,  and  they  had  neglected  her.  8he  was  a 
member  of  a  Presbyterian  church  in  New  York,  which 
I  could  name.  Her  sons,  in  various  places,  were  members 
in  good  and  regular  standing  of  Evangelical  churches  ; 
one  of  them,  doing  a  thrifty  business  as  a  photographer  in 
that  very  city  of  Brooklyn,  was  a  Sunda}^  School  Super- 
intendent, i^ut  out  of  all  her  children,  one  only  shewed 
her  some  natural  affection,  crossing  the  ferry  from  time 
to  time  to  bring  her  such  relief  as  he  could  spare  out  c>f 
her  scanty  salary — and  she  was  an  actress  in  the  Bowery 
Theatre.  And  when  I  learned  this  story,  I  concluded  that 
I  would  not  be  in  a  great  hurry  to  denounce  the  sins  of 
the  theatre,  until  I  had  first  done  my  duty  by  the  sins  of 
the  church. 

Alongside  of  this  tendency  to  improve,  we  must  observe, 
if  we  would  take  in  the  whole  situation,  another  movement 
in  the  opposite  direction.  Tliere  has  been  what  looks 
almost  like  a  concerted  reaction  towards  the  worst  days  of 
dramatic  corruption.  When  the  ballet  was  first  introduced 
into  New  York,  less  than  forty  years  ago,  it  shocked  the 
nerves  of  that  not  too  fastidious  and  puritanical  city,  and 


286  CHURCH  AND  THEATRE. 

called  forth  a  protest  from  the  secnlar  press  in  the  name 
of  morality  and  decency.  Now^  the  ballet  is,  I  will  not 
say  an  incidental  attraction,  it  .seems  to  be  the  grand 
attraction  which  swallows  np  all  others  in  most  theatres 
of  New  York  and  other  cities,  so  that  actors  who  have 
studied  their  profession  as  an  art,  complain  bitterly  that 
they  are  crowded  from  the  stage  and  out  of  their  living  by 
bevies  of  nude  and  shameless  women,  whose  livelihood  is 
in  their  immodesty.  Alongside  of  the  pure  and  blameless 
dramatization  of  Dickens,  and  Mrs.  Stowe,  and  Wash- 
ington Irving,  one  sees  announced  the  scoundrelly  plays 
of  the  French  Opera — as  much  more  corrupting  than  the 
ribaldry  of  the  old  comedies  as  their  indecency  is  less 
gross  and  nauseating — plays  which  the  respectable  secular 
press  of  the  metropolis  denounced  unanimously  for  their 
wickedness,  and  to  which  the  more  they  were  denounced, 
the  more  the  "  very  best  society"  flocked  to  see  them. 

8uch,  with  this  double  tendency,  is  the  present  position 
of  the  theatre. 

What  is  the  attitude  of  society  with  reference  to  it?  It 
may  be  defined  in  these  three  particulars  : 

1.  Indiscriminate  condemnation  of  the  theatre  as  a 
whole. 

2.  By  an  inevitable  consequence,  indiscriminate  vindica- 
tion of  the  theatre  as  a  whole. 

3.  Indiscriminate  evasion  of  traditionary  formulas  of 
duty,  half  believed  and  half  mistrusted  ;  acts  of  doubtful 
and  therefore  guilty  consciences  ;  and  the  furtive  and 
coward  1}^  attendance  upon  all  sorts  of  theatrical 
entertainments,  the  best  and  the  vilest,  by  people  who 
hypocritically  pr(>fess  to  he  governed  by  principles  which 
forbid  it. 


CHURCH  AND  THEATRE.  261 

Ah  !  Let  me  repeat  and  emphasize  this,  for  it  is  the 
plainest  thing  in  the  word  of  (xod  concerning  this  whole 
business.  Whatever  may  be  the  abstract  right  or  wrong 
of  theatre-going,  ?/o?f,  who  have  your  scruples  and  doubts 
about  the  matter,  who  think  it  had  better  be  done  very 
quietly  and  so  as  not  to  excite  remark,  you  are  verily 
guilty  before  (xod  in  every  act.  Don't  affect  to  defend 
yourselves,  when  you  are  brought  to  book  for  your  trans- 
gression of  rules  which  you  affect  to  approve,  by  citing  the 
respectability  of  some  theatres  and  the  excellence  of  some 
plays.  It  is  the  very  nature  of  this  evasive  transgression 
that  it  sticks  at  no  such  distinction  ;  it  has  not  dared  to 
look  its  conscience  in  the  face  long  enough  to  apprehend 
such  distinctions.  I  do  not  believe  there  is  any  playgoing 
more  unprincipled  and  undiscriminating  than  your 
Evangelical  Christian  plaj^going.  No,  no,  my  dear 
Christian  brother  or  sister,  it  is  all  very  well  for  you  to 
talk  about  the  innocence  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  Bi2)  Van  Winkle 
and  the  beauty  of  Liicia  di  Larnmermoor,  but  these  are  not 
what  you  went  to  see  the  last  time  you  were  in  New 
York !  You  went  to  be  delighted  with  the  chaste 
elegance  of  the  latest  and  nudest  ballet  !  You  spent  half 
the  night  in  rapture  over  the  charms  of  the  scurrilous 
ojjera  houffe.  Decent,  upright  men  of  the  world  have  some 
standards  of  distinction  here,  some  principles  of  right  and 
wrong.  My  friend,  Mr.  De  Cordova,  who  should  thank 
no  one  for  calling  him  a  Christian,  spoke  to  me  of  Barhe 
BJeue  as  an  innocent  blameless  play,  but  said  "  I  would 
as  soon  spit  in  the  face  of  a  lady  as  ask  to  see  Genevieve 
de  Brahant.""  Your  pious  playgoer  who  slips  into  the 
theatre  when  he  won't  be  noticed,  who  goes  with  a  friend 
from  the  country,  or  who  has  a  visitor   who   has   set  his 


268  CHURCH  AND  THEATRE. 

heart  upon  going  and  must  not  be  allowed  to  go  without 
protection,  knows  no  such  distinctions.  A  theatre  is  a 
theatre.  His  scruples  about  going,  instead  of  being  the 
conviction  of  an  enlightened  conscience,  are  a  tradition  of 
the  elders,  and  when  he  breaks  over  them  he  may  as  well 
die  for  a  sheep  as  for  a  lamb.  0,  my  devout  friends, 
think  what  you  do — if  ever  you  do  think  at  all — when,  by 
your  presence  and  patronage,  you  encourage  the  ballet. 
You  vaunt  the  superior  virtue  and  tenderness  of  our 
Christian  civilization,  when  you  hear  with  a  shudder  of 
fair  women  and  gay  gentlemen,  in  the  days  of  the  Roman 
empire,  looking  down  from  the  seats  in  the  Coliseum  at 
the  dying  agonies  of  struggling  gladiators  or  of  martyred 
Christians, 

"Butchered  to  make  a  lioman  holiday." 

Know  then  that  Christendom  has  found  out  a  cruelty 
more  exquisite.  The  master  of  the  Roman  sports  when 
he  had  slain  the  body  had  no  more  that  he  could  do. 
Christian  civilization  has  armed  itself  with  the  awful 
facts  of  the  life  to  come.  It  has  cunningly  contrived  a 
sport  so  destructive  to  the  modesty,  so  depraving  to  the 
womanly  virtue  of  those  who  are  employed  in  it,  that  for 
one  of  them  to  escape  perdition  of  body  and  soul  is 
accepted  as  a  miracle  or  commonly  scouted  as  incredible ; 
and  Christian  men  and  women  suffer  themselves  to  be 
enticed  to  the  exquisite  pleasure  of  seeing  their  sister,  for 
whom  Christ  died,  suffering,  not  the  brief  anguish  of 
bodily  death,  but  making  night  by  night  the  sure  perdition 
of  her  soul.  O  shame  !  Shame  upon  you!  Woe  unto 
you,  Pharisees,  hypocrites  ! 

No,  no  !      If  any  timid,  cautious  brother  appeals  to  me 


CHURCH  AND  THEATRE.  269 

not  to  deal  so  freely  with  this  subject,  and  asks  me  if  I  am 
not  afraid  of  doing  more  harm  than  good  by  disturbing 
people's  established  opinions,  I  tell  him  No.  The  state  of 
this  question  now  is  just  the  worst  possible,  the  most 
demoralizing,  the  most  destructive  to  the  conscience  both 
of  church  and  of  society.  You  cannot  make  it  worse  by 
stirring  it. 

But  what  course,  then,  shall  we  recommend  with 
reference  to  this  greatly  important  question  of  duty  ? 

I  would  sum  up  my  answer  mainly  in  this  one  Avord, 
DISCRIMINATION, — a  word  most  irksome  and  disagreeable 
to  the  ordinary  rough-and-ready  reformer,  who  always 
loves  to  do  his  condemning  and  his  approving  in  the  bulk 
instead  of  in  particular.  It  is  so  much  easier  and  more 
slashing  when  one  has  seen  the  mischiefs  of  excessive 
frivolity  and  dissipation  and  lewd  dances,  to  levy  a 
sweeping  edict  against  dancing,  instead  of  showing 
distinctly  what  you  do  object  to.  It  is  so  much  more  easy 
and  compendious  to  denounce  games  of  chance,  and 
especially  to  get  up  a  prejudice  against  playing-cards,  than 
to  sits  down  patiently  and  show  intelligently  wherein 
consists  the  sinfulness  of  gambling — that  it  is  obtaining 
another's  property  without  rendering  him  an  equivalent. 
This  sort  of  slapdash,  hit-or-miss  denunciation  is  the  pest 
and  hinderance  of  every  healthy  reform  ;  it  was  the  one 
fault  that  hindered  the  anti-slavery  agitation  from  being 
a  moral  success.  It  has  been  a  perpetual  drag  upon  the 
wheels  of  the  temperance  reformation.  It  is  the  fatal 
defect  in  all  this  crusade  against  the  corruptions  of  the 
stage. 

Let  us  see  if  we  cannot,  in  this  business,  lay  aside  this 
easily  besetting  sin  of  moral  reformers ;  let  us  learn,  in  all 


270  OHUKCH  AND  THEATPtE. 

OUT  Strictures  on  that  which  is  so  defencelessly  open  to 
stricture,  to  say  just  what  we  mean,  and  mean  just  what- 
we  say.  Let  us  find  exactly  what  those  things  are  which 
we  object  to,  and  then  deal  with  them  explicitly — faith- 
fully— and  we  shall  not  deal  with  them  the  less  effectively 
if  we  abstain  from  including  in  the  same  censure,  perfectly 
innocent  things  with  which  they  are  associated.  If  we 
object  that  there  are  multitudes  of  bad  men  and  women  in 
the  profession  of  the  stage,  let  us  learn  how  to  spare  those 
who,  for  that  very  reason,  are  the  more  honorably  and 
illustriously  virtuous,  while  we  smite  the  guilty.  If  we 
condemn  bad  theatres,  why  should  we  find  any  advantage 
in  bringing  here  and  there  the  good  theatres,  if  there  be 
such,  under  the  same  condemnation  ?  If  you  abhor  and 
denounce  corrupt  plays,  why  should  you  pretend  to 
denounce  dramatic  literature,  the  evil  and  the  good 
together  ?  Why  should  you  not  say  what  you  mean  ? 
and  if  you  will  not  say  what  you  mean,  can  you  very 
reasonably  complain  if,  by  and  by,  people  begin  to  doubt 
whether  you  mean  what  you  say  ? 

I  know  there  are  honest  people  here  that  are  trembling 
at  the  peril  involved  in  admitting  such  distinctions. 
''  What !  would  you  have  my  son  get  the  idea  that  it 
is  not  wicked  to  gf>  to  the  theatre  ?  Think  of  the  danger  !  " 
My  dear  sir,  or  madam,  1  have  thought  of  it,  earnestly. 
Have  not  I  sons  to  care  for  as  well  as  you?  It  will  be 
safer  for  your  sons  and  mine  to  know  the  whole  right  and 
wrong  of  this  matter,  with  the  facts  and  the  reasons,  than 
to  trust  them,  fur  their  protection  against  the  unquestion- 
able temptations  and  corruptions  attending  on  theatrical 
(iutertainments,  to  the  vain  defense  of  an  irrational,  tradi- 
tionary prejudice,  which   they   will   break   through   when 


CHlIRCii  AND  THEATRE.  271 

they  are  come  to  years  of  liberty  and  discretion,  almost  as 
certainly  as  the  chicken  chips  the  egg-shell.  1  will  not 
rest  the  morals  of  my  children  on  au}^  such  broken  reed. 
I  will  not  take  any  such  venture  as  to  trust  for  their 
security  from  the  blinding,  captivating  sin  of  gambling,  to 
a  mere  vague  feeling  of  dislike  to  playing-cards  and 
billiard-tables:  nor  for  their  safety  from  drunkenness  t<> 
the  incantation  of  a  children's  temperance  pledge  sworn 
to  by  a  Sunday. School  in  bulk.  1  desire  that  they  may 
feel  from  their  earliest  days  the  great  sanction  of  all 
Christian  duty  in  the  love  of  their  Saviour,  and  that  they 
may  know^  the  w^arrant  of  all  particular  duties  in 
reason  and  the  word  of  God.  It  is  just  hecause  I  know^ 
what  the  peril  of  a  young  man  is,  under  the  practice  of 
indiscriminate  and  unintelligent  denunciation  of  certain 
attractive  forms  of  amusement,  that  I  seek  to  put  this 
w^hole  department  of  casuistry  on  a  higher  and  firmer 
ground. 

Is  there,  then,  an}^  hope  for  the  elevation  of  the  theatre 
from  its  depressed  moral  and  social  position?  Two 
thousand  years  of  history  present,  it  must  be  confessed,  a 
formidable  discouragement  to  all  such  expectations.  But 
we  cannot  willingly  despair  of  reform ;  we  look  with  interest 
towards  every  door  of  hope,  and  observe  every  token  ot 
improvement,  not  with  churlish"  contempt  and  suspicion, 
as  if  it  were  mask  for  new  temptations,  but  with  sincere 
satisfaction. 

1.  The  theatrical  profession  have  the  whole  matter  in 
their  own  hands.  There  is  no  disguising  the  fact — their 
own  complaints  are  sufficient  proof  of  it — the  profession  are 
under  the  disfavor  of  society,  even  of  worldly  society.  It 
is  in  their  own  power  to  change  all  this,  and  to  be  respected, 


272  CHURCH  AND  THEATRE. 

by  being  respectable.  I  know  no  one  class  of  society  so 
much  interested  in  the  reform  of  the  theatre  as  the  profes- 
sion of  the  stage.  Why  should  they  not  reform  it  ?  The 
manager  who  should  feel  that  he  could  "  afford  to  keep  a 
conscience"  in  his  business  might  find^  in  the  long  run, 
that  it  i)ays  to  keep  a  conscience,  especially  to  one  who 
does  not  keep  it  for  the  sake  of  pay.  The  manager  who 
should  say :  "  Such  and  such  pieces  would  undoubtedly 
run  through  the  whole  season,  and  draw  the  house  full 
every  night,  but  they  are  corrupting  and  demoralizing  in 
their  influence,  and  they  cannot  come  upon  my  boards ; ' 
the  actor  who  should  take  the  position  :  "  In  such  a  part 
I  could  win  applause  and  reputation  and  money ;  if 
I  decline  it  I  forfeit  my  engagement ;  but  it  is  vile  and 
debasing  to  the  public,  and,  come  what  may,  I  will  not 
appear  in  it ;  "  the  community  of  actors  who  should 
resolutely  refuse  to  be  associated  with  persons  of  known 
infamous  character  ;  such  as  these  could  do  more  for  the 
reforming  and  ennobling  of  the  stage  than  all  the  preachers 
in  Christendom.  But  how  often  do  we  hear  of  such 
managers  and  such  players  ?  There  have  been  those,  in 
every  generation  since  David  Grarrick,  whose  private 
character  has  done  something  towards  redeeming  the 
character  of  the  profession.  There  are  more  such  to-day, 
doubtless,  than  ever  before  since  the  beginning  of  history. 
To  speak  only  of  the  lyric  stage — towards  which  my  tastes 
have  more  particularly  directed  my  attention — what 
whisper  of  disrespect  was  ever  breathed  against  such 
names  as  those  of  Miss  Kellogg  and  Madame  Parepa-llosa  ? 
O  that  some  one  of  these  great  artists  would  have  the 
bravery  to  resist  the  bad  traditions  of  her  art !  The  whole 
world  of  criticism  must  acknowledge  that  Don  Giovanni 


CHURCH  AND  THEATRE.  273 

is  the  very  master-piece  of  the  lyric  drama.  Such  affluence 
of  melody,  such  largeness  of  dramatic  conception  and 
treatment,  such  mastery  of  the  resources  of  the  orchestra. 
— in  one  word,  such  worthiness  of  the  great  Mozart — set 
it  clear  of  rivalry.  Have  courage,  now,  and  self-denial, 
for  virtue's  sake  and  Grod's,  and  say  :  ^'  I  will  not  sing  in 
Don  Giovanni,  for  it  is  licentious  and  foul!"  Ah!  if 
actors  and  singers  had  but  the  courage  and  virtue  for  such 
acts  as  this,  they  would  not  have  to  ask  permission  of 
churches  and  ministers  and  tract  societies  to  be  respected; 
they  would  hold  the  respect  of  the  public  in  their  own 
right,  despite  all  gainsayers.  But,  so  long  as  they  freely 
choose  the  other  course,  let  us  hear  no  more  whimpering 
from  them  about  the  ban  of  society  which  they  thereby 
incur. 

2.  I  have  no  more  than  time  to  hint  at  the  help  that 
might  be  given  to  such  a  reform  by  the  discriminating, 
faithful  criticisms  of  the  newspaper  press.  How  faithful 
the  best  of  the  great  New  York  dailies  have  lately  been, 
in  criticising  the  moral  tone  as  well  as  the  literary  and 
artistic  character  of  the  metropolitan  theatres,  those  who 
habitually  read  them  know.  How  much  this  has  helped 
the  efforts  of  those  who  are  honestly  laboring,  from 
behind  the  scenes,  for  the  improvement  of  the  theatre, 
cannot  be  estimated.  Doubtless,  the  best  men  of  the 
theatrical  profession  here  would  be  the  most  eager  to 
welcome  an  advance  of  the  press  of  this  city,  to  a  higher 
and  more  faithful  sort  of  criticism  than  the  country- 
newspaper  style  of  measuring  out  his  finger's  length  of 
"  first-rate  notice "  to  whoever  sends  to  the  office  an 
advertisement  and  a  complimentary  ticket. 

3.  But  have  the  Christian  public  anything  to  do  with 


274  CHURCH  AND  THEATRE. 

reference  to  possible  reform  in  the  theatre — with  reference 
to  the  actual  diverging  tendencies  now  visible  in  the 
progress  of  theatrical  events  ?  Have  we  anything  to  do^ 
except  look  on  until  the  question  is  decided  ?  Can  we 
innocently  enjoy  the  good  and  refuse  the  evil  ?  Can  we 
usefully  give  countenance  to  the  better  party  against  the 
worse  ?    . 

I  only  ask  these  questions  ;  I  do  not  mean  to  answer 
them.  They  are  questions  for  every  man  to  answer  for 
himself.  "  Let  every  man  be  fully  persuaded  in  his  own 
mind.'' 

It  is  no  ordinance  of  Cxod  that  men  should  get  all  their 
open  questions  of  duty  answered  for  them  by  others  ;  but 
rather  that  they  should  be  pressed^  urged^  perplexed,  even, 
by  doubts  for  the  right  decision  of  which  they  must  answer 
at  the  judgment.  Is  not  this  a  nobler  discipline  for 
Christian  manhood  than  any  mill  of  formulas — "  touch 
not,  taste  not,  handle  not,  which  perish  in  the  using  " — 
such  as  the  grandly  liberal  mind  of  Paul  rejected  with 
scorn,  such  as  Christian  society  often  attempts  to  substitute 
for  the  broad  principles  of  the  gospel  and  the  responsible 
liberty  of  the  individual  conscience  ! 

"  Each  man  in  Ids  own  mind."  If  ever  there  is  to  be  a 
true  and  wholesome  public  sentiment,  it  will  come,  not  by 
the  servile  deference  of  the  individual  to  what  he  guesses 
to  be  the  opinion  of  the  rest,  but  by  every  man's  freely 
determining  and  frankly  acting  out  liis  own  conviction.  Is 
it  not  a  small  matter  to  be  judged  of  man's  judgment  ? 
God  is  your  judge,  not  man. 

But  remember  Grod  is  your  judge  ;  and  for  all  your 
dealing  with  questions  like  these  you  must  give  account 
to  Him ! 


THE  TEMPERANCE  REFORMATION.  •        275 


xiy. 


MISTAKES  AND  FAILURES  OF  THE 
TEMPERANCE  REFORMATION.* 


It  is  not  necessarily  a  reproach  against  the  Temperance 
Reformation  that  now,  decaying  and  waxing  old,  it  is 
ready  to  vanish  away.  Many  a  good  thing,  before  this  has 
had  its  day  and  its  decline,  and  has  entered  gracefully 
into  its  worthy  place  in  history.  The  symptoms  of  decline 
in  that  great  movement  which  is  to  be  known  hereafter 
as  the  Temperance  Reformation  of  the  Nineteenth  Centur}^, 
are  not  only  perceptible  to  cool  observers ;  even  the 
affection  of  devoted  partisans  is  not  so  blind  as  not  to  see 
them. 

Whatever  hopes  its  friends  and  supporters  may  have 
of  its  future  revival  or  resurrection,  they  will  hardly 
deny  that,  in  the  present  course  of  things,  we  are  getting 
rapidly  toward  the  time  when  its  epitaph  and  history 
will  have  to  be  written.  Considered  as  a  great  popular 
movement,  it  passed  its  culmination  many  years  ago,  and 
like  all  such  agitations  in  their  decline,  is  making  feeble 
efforts  to  repeat  itself.     Vain  efforts — for  it  would  be  out 

*  Published  as  an  anonymous  pamphlet,  New  York  :  1864. 


276  THE  TEMPERANCE  REFORMATION. 

of  accord  with  historj^,  if  the  world  should  be  put  back  to 
the  old  point  in  its  course,  and  run  this  tweny-five  years 
of  agitation  over  again  in  the  same  groove. 

And  what  profit,  if  it  could  be?  (iiven  the  same 
starting  point  and  the  same  course,  the  world  could  not 
but  bring  up  at  last  at  the  same  result;  and  is  this  the 
thing  we  are  to  desire,  in  the  name  of  philanthropy  and 
public  morality?  We  may  have  a  new  Temperance 
Reformation,  but  the  old  one  over  again — hardly.  The 
old  soldiers  of  the  late  war  will  continue  to  "  fight  their 
battles  o'er  again  !w — to  "  shoulder  the  crutch  and  show- 
how  fields  were  won,"  and  its  surviving  stipendiaries  will 
continue  to  draw  their  well-earned  pensions  from  the 
dwindling  current  of  public  benefaction.  These  are  the 
usual  sequelcB  of  a  great  public  movement.  But  as  to  the 
movement  itself — actum  est.  What  remains  is,  first  and 
most  important,  to  make  a  careful  autopsy,  in  the  interest 
of  humanity  and  science,  to  discover  the  cause  of  this 
untimely  demise;  and  then  for  the  historian  to  build  a 
monument  and  write  an  epitaph  worthy  of  the  real 
dignity  and  grandeur  of  the  deceased.  Only  let  the 
post-mortem  come  first,  and  the  funeral  and  the  eulogy 
afterward. 

We  have  undertaken  the  examination — an  ungracious 
task.  The  Egyptians  were  wont  to  employ  the  embalmer 
to  fit  their  dead  for  honorable  burial  and  then  to  pelt  him 
with  mud  for  desecrating  the  body  with  an  incision.  Let 
him  who  wields  his  scalpel  over  the  cadaver  of  the 
Temperance  Reform,  look  out  for  like  treatment. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  eulogist  of  the  Temperance 
Reformation,   whenever  it  shall    be  his   turn,   will  find 


THE  TEMPERANCE  REFORMATION.  277 

abundant  materials  for  his  work.  It  is  a  fair  question, 
even,  on  which  we  cannot  pronounce — so  near  are  we  to 
the  event — whether  the  best  years  of  that  reform  will  not 
be  reckoned  among"  the  noblest  in  the  annals  of  Christian 
heroism. 

Consider  it.  It  was  in  the  fulfillment  of  Christian  duty 
in  its  highest  grade  of  attainment,  that  the  expedient  of 
abstinence  Ijy  the  temperate^  which  was  the  initial  and 
characteristic  expedient  of  this  Reformation,  was 
inaugurated.  It  was  grounded  on  the  duty — so  indefinable 
in  its  application  that  it  must  be  left  to  the  judgment  of 
each  man's  conscience — so  easy,  therefore,  to  be  evaded 
— the  duty  of  waiving  one's  liberty  in  lawful  things,  in 
favor  of  the  morbid  weakness  or  error  of  other  men. 
It  was  on  this  sole  ground  that  the  best  men  in  the 
country  came,  about  the  j^ear  1836,  to  a  wonderfully 
unanimous  and  simultaneous  agreement  to  renounce 
entirely  the  use,  not  only  of  ardent  spirits,  but  of  all  malt 
and  fermented  liquors.  A  greater  triumph  of  Christian 
principle  the  world  has  rarely  seen  in  all  its  history. 
There  have  been  individual  acts  more  heroic;  but  such  a 
movement  of  general  self-renunciation,  in  face  of  social 
usage,  in  face  of  natural  tastes  and  desires — a  movement 
of  the  mass  of  the  Christian  public  in  all  its  ranks,  as  of 
a  cloud  "  which  moveth  altogether  if  it  move  at  all" — a 
movement,  nevertheless,  in  which  each  soul  proceeded  on 
its  own  individual  will,  without  constraint,  to  renounce 
for  humanity's  sake  an  innocent,  a  lawful,  in  frequent 
instances  a  very  useful  indulgence — such  a  movement  is 
characterized  hy  a  moral  dignity  which  is  hardly  rivaled 
in  the  history  of  the  church  universal.  It  is  a  great  part 
of    the    glory    of  the    early  abstinence  movement,  that 


278  THE  TEMPERANCE  REFORMATION. 

it  was  a  movement  for  abstinence  from  lawfiil  things. 
If  abstinence  conld  have  been  enforced  as  a  duty 
by  absolute  and  independent  sanctions,  it  would 
have  been  less  an  honor  to  the  abstainers  than  now. 
It  is  another  part  of  that  glory  (if  we  may  so  speak, 
without  too  bold  a  paradox),  that  the  sacrifice  which 
it  involved  was  so  small  a  one.  To  rescue  the  land 
from  drunkenness,  those  early  reformers  were  willing 
not  only  to  do  some  great  thing ;  they  were  willing 
<i^y  ^7  day  to  do  little  things,  which  is  harder  and  more 
heroic.  They  were  willing  to  practice  little  self-denials, 
to  withstand  petty  oppositions  and  suffer  paltry  annoy- 
ances ;  to  be  sneered  at  by  the  frivolous,  and  denounced 
by  the  selfish,  and  coldly  approved  b}^  the  self-sufficient, 
until  by-and-by  the  meek  inherited  the  land.  Those 
advocates  of  the  "  Temperance  Cause  "  who  seek  to  honor 
it  by  magnifying  the  "sin  of  moderate  drinking"  and 
exalting  the  arduous  heroism  of  the  reformer,  really  defeat 
their  own  purpose,  and  disparage  what  they  would  extol. 
We  shall  not  go  far  in  this  discussion  without  finding 
other  instances  in  which  the  Temperance  Keformation  has 
been  wounded  by  the  awkward  and  superfluous  activity  of 
its  friends. 

The  early  Abs^nence  movement  as  we  haA^e  described 
it,  founded  on  a*  true  principle  of  Christian  ethics,  and 
marked  by  the  grandeur  of  a  free,  spontaneous  movement 
of  public  philanthropy,  was  justified  hy  the  emergency  in 
which  it  arose,  and,  after  all  allowances  which  any  man 
will  claim,  has  been  s.p2)roved  hy  the  issue. 

It  was  justified  hy  the  emergency.  Judging  from 
unquestionable  statements  and  descriptions,  the  state  of 
American  society  fifty  years  ago  was  such  as  we  do  not 


THE  TEMPERANCE  REFORMATION.  279 

commonly  conceive  at  this  day.  "  All  tables  were  full  of 
vomit  and  filthiness — there  was  no  place  clean."  Old 
persons  now  living,  who  in  their  youth  had  large 
acquaintance  with  public  men,  can  tell  us  how  many 
eminent  citizens,  how  man}^  honorable  judges,. how  many 
beloved  physicians,  passed  in  their  latter  days  under  a 
cloud  which  rested  at  last  upon  their  graves  ;  and  the 
ecclesiastical  and  clerical  records  of  every  denomination 
show  how  common  a  thing  it  used  to  be  for  an  aged  and 
venerable  minister  of  the  gospel,  as  his  natural  force 
abated,  to  decline  into  habits  which  demanded  his  seclusion 
from  the  ministry.^ 


1.  A  letter  from  the  Rev.  Ur.  Woods,  of  Andover,  published  so  loii^  ago  as 
1836,  in  the  Annual  Report  of  the  American  Temperance  Society  for  that  year, 
contains  the  folio  win---  testimony  : 

"  I  remember  that  at  a  particular  period,  before  the  Temperance  Reformation 
commenced,  I  was  able  to  count  up  nearly  forty  ministers  of  the  gospel,  and  none 
of  them  at  a  very  great  distance,  wlio  -were  either  drunkards,  or  so  far  addicted 
to  intemperate  drinking  that  their  reputation  and  usefulness  were  greatly 
injured,  if  not  utterly  ruined.  And  I  could  meutiou  an  ordination  that  took  place 
about  twenty  years  ago,  at  which  I  myself  was  ashamed  and  grieved  to  see  two 
aged  ministers  literally  drunk,  and  a  third  indecently  excited  with  strong 
drink."    Report,  p.  50. 

This  testimony  coincides  with  that  of  "an  aged  divine  in  Albany"  to  Mr 
Edward  C.  Delavan,  quoted  by  the  latter  in  a  letter  to  Governor  King  of  this 
State  in  1857.  This  anonymous  witness  "found  that  fifty  percent,  of  the  clergy 
within  a  circuit  of  fift}-  miles,  died  drunkarks  !  " 

Such  irresponsible  talk  as  this  is  of  course  to  be  taken  with  large  allowance. 
But  the  fact  that  such  a  statement  could  be  made  at  all,  without  palpable 
absurdity,  proves  a  state  of  society  to  have  existed  Avhich  it  is  ditficull  for  us  to 
conceive  of  at  present. 

There  are  many  anecdotes  of  leading  professional  men  of  this  city  in  the  past 
generation,  current  in  family  and  professional  circles,  which  confirm  the 
representation  we  have  given  of  the  state  of  society  in  their  day.  It  would  be  a 
needless  paiu  to  draw  them  out  of  the  obscurity  of  tradition,  in  order  to  prove  e 
point  whicli  will  hardly  be  diniied  by  any  one. 

Notice,  here,  the  date,  under  which  Dr.  Woods  speaks  of  general  drunkenness 
as  cliaracteristic  of  a  j^ast  state  of  society.  It  would  appear  from  this,  and  from 
sundry  otlier  documentary  indications, that  the  great  conquest  of  the  Temperance 
Reformation  was  achieved  during  its  tirst  decade,  from  1826  to  1836,  before  th 


280  THE  TEMPERANCE  REFORMATION. 

We  are  prepared  to  say,  further,  that  the  right  and 
expediency  of  the  early  abstinence  movement  has  been 
apjnvved  hy  the  result.  With  all  the  pitiable  features  of 
the  present  aspect  of  society  in  respect  to  intemperance, 
and  all  the  deformities  and  opprohria  of  the  Temperance 
Keformation  in  full  view,  we  have  nevertheless  no 
hesitation  in  repeating  this  conviction.  We  shall  use 
great  plainness  of  speech  when  we  come  by-and-by  to  say 
what  the  Temperance  Reformation  has  failed  to  do,  and 
what  it  has  done  amiss.  But  thus  much  it  has  done,  and 
that  in  main  reliance  on  its  leading  expedient  of  the  total 
abstinence  of  temperate  men  : 

It  has  rescued  many  individuals  from  drunkenness. 

It  has  doubtless  held  back  many  persons  from  perilous 
beginnings  of  temptation  that  would  otherwise  have 
proved  their  ruin. 

It  has  broken,  so  that  they  can  never  be  repaired,  the 
pernicious  and  despotic  drinking  usages  of  society. 

It  has  taught  (by  a  transient  and  unstable  experiment) 
that  social  influences,  organized  in  the  interest  of  vice, 
may  be  successfully  combated  by  social  organizations  in 
behalf  of  virtue. 

It  has  contributed  something  to  the  sound  literature  of 
social  reform. 

If  it  has  settl'ed  no  principles,  it  has  ^//isettled  a  great 
many  convictions,  and  has  opened — not  closed — important 
discussions. 

Saying  nothing  now  of  what  it  has  undone,  misdone, 
and  failed  to  do,  these  things  it  has  done;  they  are  among 
the  triumphs  of  the  Christian  expedient  of  renouncing  an 

present    pledge,    forbiddiiifr    init    only    distilled    hut    icrni.Mited    litiuors,    was 
introduced. 


THE  TEMPERANCE  REFORMATION.  281 

innocent  thing  for  the  sake  of  other  men's  consciences. 
For,  in  the  golden  age  of  the  Temperance  Reformation,  it 
was  a  mere  expedienty  not  a  principle  ;  and  this  (as  we 
Lave  said)  was  the  glory  of  it,  that  when  it  could  be 
enforced  by  no  law,  the  sacrifice  was  cheerfully  assumed 
for  love's  sake.  ^ 

We  have  spoken  with  some  particularity  of  the  earl^ 
abstinence  movement,  as  if  there  were  something  dis- 
tinguishing about  it  as  compared  with  the  more  recent 
"  Temperance  Reformation."  We  believe  this  to  be  the  fact. 
We  believe,  and  are  ready  to  prove,  that  this  reformation 
has  departed  from  sound  Scriptural  principles  and  right 
measures,  and  is  now  prosecuted  on  fallacious  principles 
and  by  means  of  measures  the  unfitness  and  wrongness  of 
which  are  witnessed  by  their  constant  failure. 

The  revolution  in  the  Temperance  Reformation  has 
been  on  this  wise.  Not  long  after  the  first  flush  of  its 
vigor,  it  passed  its  period  of  highest  vitality,  and  from 
that  moment  its  decay  was  rapid. ^  It  passed  from  a 
movement  into  an  institution.  It  passed  out  of  the  control 
and  management  of  zealous  and  philanthropic  men,  who 
gave  to  it  the  judgment  that  had  been  ripened,  the 
influence  that  had  been  earned,  and  the  vigor  that  had 
been  trained  in  various  pursuits — men  whose  zeal  was 

1.  For  a  summary  of  the  results  of  the  Temperance  Refoi-m,  see  the  letter  of 
Mr.  Dolavan  to  Governor  King,  in  the  Appendix  to  "  Nott's  Temperance 
Lectures,"  p.  207.  Also  the  successive  Annual  Reports  of  the  American 
Temperance  Union. 

2.  The  rudiments  of  the  change  described  above  as  coming  over  the  spirit  of 
the  Temperance  movement,  are  to  be  discerned  very  early  in  the  history  of  it. 
No  point  of  time  is  to  be  indicated  as  the  point  of  transition  from  its  success  to 
its  decadence.  These  rudiments  of  corruption  infected  the  speech  of  some  of  its 
earliest  advocates.  A  seimon  (from  which  we  shall  hereafter  quote)  by  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Kirk, about  the  year  1837, anticipates  many  of  the  fallacies  in  sustaining 
which  a  great  proportion  of  the  energies  of  the  reform  has  since  been  wasted. 


282  THE  TEMPERANCE  REFORMATION. 

tempered,  not  cooled,  by  the  neeessity  of  holding  this 
particular  subject  constantly  in  relation  and  comparison 
with  other  practical  matters  ;  and  it  passed  under  the 
control  of  specialists,  of  professional  reformers,  of 
stipendiar}^  agitators,  of  men  who,  bringing  to  the 
exclusive  consideration  of  a  somewhat  exciting  subject 
the  sort  of  mental  predisposition  which  is  common  to  the 
riders  of  hobbies,  gradually  develop  a  monomania  more  or 
less  gentle  according  to  the  natural  temper  of  the  subject, 
and  aggravated  constantly  by  the  unremitted  pressure  of 
the  exciting  cause. 

Now  when  the  original  movement  began  to  cool  off  into 
an  institution,  it  is  no  wonder  that  its  loss  of  inward  vital 
force  should  begin  to  be  supplemented  with  artificial 
stimulants,  and  that  its  spontaneous  expedients  of  Christian 
affection  should  begin  to  petrify  into  forms  of  social  law. 
By  just  so  much  as  the  genuine  spirit  of  Christian  zeal 
declined  among  the  reformers  or  their  successors,  it  left 
behind  it  a  half-animated  body  of  formalism  or  asceticism. 
The  institution  has  now  its  corporate  interests  and  a 
corporate  spirit,  besides  the  spirit  of  the  reform  which  it 
espouses.  The  vice  which  it  opposes  is  now  doubly 
guilty,  first,  as  a  sin  against  God  and  man,  secondly,  as  a 
lese-majesty  agaiiist  the  Temperance  Society.  So  the 
institution  settles  its  formulas,  erects  its  codes,  affixes  its 
penalties,  enforces  them.  The  course  which,  to  meet  the 
emergency  of  the  time,  had  at  the  outset  been  urged  on 
the  ground  of  Christian  expediency,  liberty,  and  love,  is 
now  enjoined  on  the  ground  of  ahsohite  duty. 

It  requires  no  great  acuteness  of  mind  to  see  that  the 
change  thus  wrought  is  a  radical  one.  Every  man  can  see 
3ind  feel  the  difference  between  an  appeal  to  him  to  waive 


THE  TEMPERANCE  REFORMATION.  283 

his  lawful  libert)'-,  lest  it  should  harm  his  brother,  and  a 
demand  that  he  shall  give  up  what  he  knows  to  be 
indifferent  in  itself,  because  it  is  denounced  as  a  sin  in 
itself,  and  because  his  liberty  is  to  be  held  subject  to 
another  man's  conscience.  This  is  the  thirty-second 
degree  of  the  thermometer — the  freezing  point,  where  the 
free  act  of  brotherly  love  congeals  into  a  form  of  law,  and 
becomes  a  yoke  of  tradition  from  the  elders. 

This,  then,  is  the  fundamental  falsehood  which  infects 
the  "  Temperance  Reformation "  as  now  prosecuted  (if 
that  ma}^  be  called  ijvosecution  which  consists  mainly  in  a 
fussy  routine  without  progress) — that  the  temperate  use 
of  drinks  that  might  intoxicate  is  a  sin,  not  for  its 
probable  consequences  in  the  particular  instance,  but  in 
itself.  It  will  be  obvious,  in  the  course  of  this  discussion, 
that  it  was  not  the  force  of  mistaken  argument  that  led  to 
the  adoption  of  this  false  position,  but,  plainly  enough, 
that  the  false  position  has  led  to  the  adoption  of  a  train  of 
fallacious  arguments  wherewith  to  sustain  it.  The  chief 
of  these  fallacies  it  is  worth  while  rapidly  to  recapitulate. 
We  may  name  them  : 

1.  The  Biblical  fallacy  ; 

2.  The  Physiological  and  Chemical  fallacy  ; 

3.  The  Progressive- Approach  fallacy  ; 

4.  The  Moral  fallacy. 

1 .  TheBihlical  fallacy:  in  which  it  is  assumed  or  asserted 
that  the  duty  of  total  abstinence  from  all  fermented  drinks 
is  inculcated  on  mankind  in  the  Holy  Scriptures.  The 
argument  with  which  this  position  is  defended,  whatever 
may  be  its  repute  among  scholars,  is  a  mighty  one  ad 
captanckmi    vulguSj    for    it    is    black,    and    angular,    and 


284  THE  TEMPERANCE  REFORMATION. 

formidable  with  quotations  of  the  Hebrew  text,  or 
asthmatic  with  li^s^  and  lih^s,  and  Ws,  and  cJi'Sy  and  other 
vain  Occidental  imitations  of  Oriental  gutturals.  It  is 
dealt  in  most  lavishly  by  lecturers  of  the  unlearned  rank, 
and  is  undoubtedly  effective,  in  a  measure,  with  audiences 
of  like  capacity.  And  yet  it  does  not  need  a  scholar  to 
see  through  its  sophistries.  The  argument  goes  limping 
through  the  Old  Testament,  leaning  on  pedantic  quotations 
of  the  various  Hebrew  words  for  wine — tirosJi,  and  yayin, 
and  mesech,  and  shechar — and  at  last  breaks  down  suddenly 
when  it  gets  to  the  New  Testament,  where  there  is  only 
one  word  for  wine,  and  that  means  precisely  ivme.^  Some 
biblical  scholars  have  been  misled  into  this  argument,  and 
a  great  many  others  have  been  bullied  or  persuaded  into 
not  denying  it  nor  (publicly)  laughing  at  it.- 

The  gist   of  the  biblical  argument  is  this  :  there   are 
several  words  in  the  Hebrew  of  the  Old  Testament,  which 

1.  It  is  said  to  be  a  standing  joke  with  the  American  missionaries  in  Syria  to 
offer  their  traveler  guests  "some  of  Professor  Stuart's  best-wine-of-Lebanon," 
which,  on  trial,  proves  to  be  dibs,  an  inspissated  grape  syrup  used  by  the  natives 
in  their  cookery.  It  is  not  an  easy  article  to  swallow  under  any  such  name  as 
the  temperance  expositors  have  dignified  it  with. 

2.  The  grand  authority  and  tliesaurus  of  the  total  abstinence  men,  in  the 
biblical  argumenr,  is  the  "  Temperance  Lectures  '"  of  President  Nott,  edited,  with 
a  learned  appendix  on  the  philological  aspects  of  the  question,  by  a 
"  Professor  "  McCoy.  TMe  critical  labors  of  tliis  philologist  leave  on  his  readers 
the  profound  impression  that  he  does  not  know  the  Greek  alphabet.  On  a  hasty 
count  we  lind,  in  a  table  of  137  Greek  words  whieli  he  gives,  GG  mistakes  of 
orthography.  And  yet  this  imposture  comes  before  the  public  witli  no  less 
respectable  an  indorsement  than  that  of  Professor  Tayler  Lewis. 

It  is  amusing  to  see  that  even  tlie  tolerably  stitf  statements  of  Dr.  Nott  fall 
below  tlie  best  standards  (if  total  abstinence  orthodoxy.  An  unguarded  expression 
in  one  of  his  lectures,  that  the  Avine  iiermitted  in  the  Scriptures  might  not  have 
beiin  "  always  unalfected  by  fermentation,  but  only  slightly  and  insensibly 
affected  by  it,"  gave  "  offense  to  many  sincere  friends  of  the  cause,"  who 
consecjuently  felt  it  their  duty  to  repudiate  and  condemn  it."  Tlie  learned  McCoy 
aiiologizes  for,  but  does  not  undertake  to  defend,  the  old  doctor's  "  gratuitous 
anil  unfortunate  admission." — NoWs  Lectures,  pp.  110-119. 


THE  TEMPERANCE  KEFORMATION.  285 

are  translated  wine  in  the  English  version.  When  wine 
is  spoken  of  with  conimendaiion  or  allowance,  it  is  com- 
monly under  that  name  which  should  be  translated  sirup  or 
nnfermented  grape  juice  :  when  fermented  wine  is  meant  it 
is  always  spoken  of  with  reprobation.  The  New  Testament 
being  interpreted  by  the  Old,  they  infer  that  the  wine 
made,  or  used,  or  tolerated  bj^  the  Saviour  was  nnfer- 
mented. 

Of  course  the  reasoning  will  not  hold  water — nor  wine. 
When  the  deacons  (1  Tim.  iii.  8)  are  required  to  be  "  not 
given  to  much  wine,"  are  they  warned  against  hurting 
their  stomachs  with  too  much  molasses,  or  against  an 
intoxicating  drink?  and  if  the  latter,  does  not  the  warning 
against  tmicli  imply  the  permission  of  a  little  ? 

2.  The  Physiological  fallacf/ :  "Alcohol  is  a  poison,  and 
therefore  all  use  of  fermented  drinks  is,  so  far  as  it  goes, 
an  act  of  suicide."  It  would  be  easy  to  admit  the  premise 
of  this  precious  bit  of  reasoning  without  admitting  the 
conclusion.  Doubtless,  extracted  and  isolated^  alcohol 
would  be  a  poison,  if  any  one  should  drink  it.  But  this 
does  not  convict  all  those  articles  of  being  poisons  from 
which  it  can  be  extracted.  The  lactucariura  is  a  poison, 
if  any  one  should  try  to  feed  on  it;  but  it  is  not  therefore 
a  sin  to  eat  lettuce.  Oxalic  acid  is  "an  energetic  poison;" 
but  we  need  not  therefore  abandon  the  use  of  the  garden 
rhubarb.  Acetic  acid  is  decidedly  a  poison  ;  but  no  one 
has  yet  demanded,  on  moral  grounds,  a  total  abstinence 
from  pickles.  Citric  acid  would  be  very  bad  for  a  man  if 
he  should  take  too  ipuch  of  it ;  but  lemonade  has  not  yet 
been  placed  on  the  Index  Expitrgatorius  of  the  Temperance 
Society.     Common  salt  is  a  poison,  in  poisonous  doses  ; 


286  THE  TEMPERANCE  REFORMATION. 

but  let  us  not  on  that  account  be  over  hasty  in  adopting 
the  present  usage  of  the  people  of  the  rebel  States, 
regarding  that  favorite  condiment  and  antiseptic.  One  of 
the  deadliest  of  known  poisons  is  the  hydrocyanic  acid  ; 
but  must  the  peach  leaves  and  the  bitter  almonds  be 
therefore  hunted  out  of  the  kitchen  pantry? 

The  evidence  as  to  the  true  position  of  alcoholic  liquors 
in  the  Materia  Medica  and  in  the  Materia  Alimentaria, 
has  been  so  much  cooked  and  garbled  by  partisan  writers, 
that  it  is  difficult  for  those  outside  of  the  circle  of 
professional  students  of  physiology,  to  find  the  materials 
for  a  candid  opinion.  The  arguments  of  the  abstinence 
men  are  of  three  sorts :  1 .  Arguments  derived  from 
speculations  in  organic  chemistry.  Of  these  it  is  sufficient 
for  those  who  are  )wt  adepts,  to  say  that  the  opinions  of 
those  who  mx,  are  too  contradictory  and  unsettled  to 
afford  a  basis  of  judgment.  We  can  refer  to  numerous 
sermons  and  speeches  that  have  been  delivered  from  texts 
in  Liebig,  which  the  progress  of  his  own  science  has 
shown  to  be  false.  2.  Arguments  from  medical  experi- 
ment, whether  in  corpore  vili  of  some  miserable  victim 
who  submits  to  be  alcoholized  for  the  benefit  of  science, 
or  on  the  bodies  of  dogs  who  are  tricked  into  making 
beasts  of  themselv^  that  the  experimenter,  opening  their 
bodies  Jiarjrante  delicto^  may  see  how  the  liquor  works 
upon  the  system.  Of  both  these  two  sorts  of  argument  it 
is  safe  to  say  that,  unsupported  by  practical  experience, 
they  are  always  looked  upon  with  distrust  by  wise 
physicians.  8.  The  argument  from  induction, — which  is 
the  only  one  of  the  real  importance.  ,  And  as  for  this 
argument,  after  allowing  for  all  the  difficulties  whicli 
embarras  it  in  consequence  of  years  of  partisan  discussion, 


THE  TEMPERANCE  REFORMATiON.  287 

— after  giving  full  credit  to  the  weighty  name  of  Carpenter 
the  physiologist,  and  to  the  still  weightier  facts  and 
instances  which  he  adduces  in  favor  of  the  physiological 
doctrine  of  total  abstinence, — after  putting  into  the  scale 
the  cogent  though  ungrammatical  testimony  of  two 
thousand  members  of  the  medical  profession  in  England, 
including  some  very  eminent  and  judicious  men,  to  the 
proposition  (which  nobody  denies),  that  "the  most  perfect 
health  is  compatible  with  total  abstinence," — after  all 
these  allowances,  the  balance  of  opinion  and  facts  is 
decidedly  against  the  dogma  that  the  moderate  dietetic 
use  of  malt  and  fermented  drinks  is  unwholesome  or  not 
useful.  ^ 

The  following  propositions  would  perhaps  be  accepted 
by  physicians  generally  as  expressing  some  of  the  results 
of  medical  science  in  its  bearing  on  the  total  abstinence 
question. 

1.  The  doctrine  that  alcohol  serves  as  a  "  respiratory 
food,"  being  oxydized  in  the  lungs,  is  discredited  by  recent 
experiments. 

2.  The  fact  remains,  that  when,  either  from  privation, 
or  loss  of  appetite,  or  other  cause,  the  system  receives  a 
reduced    supply    of  food,   the   use    of   alcohol    does,   for 


1.  Of  couiso  no  account  need  be  taken  of  the  summaries  of  medical  opinion 
jiresented  in  the  tracts  of  professional  reformers.  In  scientific  value,  and  in 
lairness  of  citation,  these  medical  works  belong  in  the  same  rank  with  the 
medical  almanacs  of  Dr.  Brandrcth  and  Dr.  Ayer. 

We  have  refrained,  with  some  self-denial,  from  commenting  on  some  of  the 
livelier  physiological  extravagances  of  the  abstinence  party;  such  as  the 
assertion  of  Dr.  Mussey,  that  the  Materia  Medica  would  be  no  loser  if  the  use  of 
alcohol  for  tinctures  was  abolished  (Dr.  Mussey's  Prize  Essay);  or  the  awful 
warning  deduced  by  Dr.  Pierson  trom  the  death  of  Dr.  Holyoke  at  the  untimely 
age  of  one  hundred  years,  in  consequence  of  his  fatal  habit  of  taking  every  day 
after  dinner,  witli  his  pipe,  "  a  preparation  consisting  of  one  tablespoontul  of 
Jamaica  rum,  and  one  tablespoonful  of  cider,  diluted  with  water." 


288  THE  TEMPERANCE  REFORMATION. 

protracted  periods,  sustain  the  strength  and  prevent 
emaciation. 

6.  The  action  of  alcohol  after  distillation,  on  the  human 
system,  is  different  in  important  respects  from  its  action 
when  taken  in  the  form  of  fermented  drinks.  For  instance, 
a  pint  of  brandy  and  water,  containing  a  certain  amount 
of  alcohol,  will  intoxicate,  when  a  pint  of  wine  or  beer, 
containing  the  same  amount  of  alcohol  in  its  natural  com- 
bination, will  not. 

4.  Perfect  health  may  be  compatible  either  with  the 
moderate  use  of  fermented  drinks,  or  with  entire 
abstinence  from  them. 

5  There  are  "  modifications  of  the  bodily  condition, 
short  of  actual  disease,  in  which  the  occasional  or 
habitual  use  of  alcoholic  liquors  may  be  necessary  or 
beneficial." 

The  last  proposition  is  in  the  words  of  Dr.  Capenter, 
the  highest  authority  of  the  total  abstinence  party.  For 
it,  he  informs  us,  his  "  Prize  Essay  "  has  been  denounced 
by  some  of  the  temperance  reformers  themselves,  as 
"  doing  as  much  harm  as  good  to  the  cause  of  temperance."  ^ 

1,  See  a  Letter  from  Dr.  Carpenter  to  the  Editor  of  the  Westminster  Review, 
published  ia  that  quarterly  for  January,  1856. 

Dr.  Carpenter's  Prize  Essay  on  "  The  Use  and  Abuse  of  Alcoholic  Liquors,"  has 
been  repul)lisheil  by  lUanchard  &  Lea,  Philadelphia.  An  answer  to  it  was 
printed  in  the  Westminster  iieview  for  July,  1855. 

It  is  a  curious  illustration  of  the  uncertainty  of  organic  chemistry  as  a  rule  of 
medical  or  hyt^ienie  practice,  that  the  chemical  theories  on  which  Dr.  Carpenter 
and  his  antaj^onist  fou;?ht  oat  the  discussion  less  than  ten  years  ago,  are  now 
abandoned  by  both  jtarties  in  consequeD33  of  more  recent  experiments. 

A  series  of  popular  articles  on  the  question,  "Is  Alcohol  Food,  Medicine,  or 
Poison?"  have  been  produced  within  two  or  three  years  in  the  Cornhill 
Ma(iaz!ne,y\\\\(i\\  take  into  view  the  most  recent  experiments  bearing  on  the 
subject. 

For  a  temi)erate  statement  of  the  dietetic  value  of  the  various  alcoholic 
liquors,  see  Pereira  on  "  Food  and  Diet,"  pp.  2(j,  27  ;  7G-80. 


THE  TEMPERANCE  REFORMATION.  289 

3.  The  Progressive- Aiyproach  fallacy  :  "  If  one  drop  of 
wine  does  not  make  drunk^  then  two  will  not,  and  if  not 
two,  then  not  three,  and  if  not  three,  then  (by  progressive 
approach)  not  three  hundred,  nor  three  thousand,  nor  three 
millions.  And  on  the  contrary,  if  a  quart  of  wine  makes 
drunk,  a  drop  of  wine  does,  in  its  degree." 

When  we  hear  men  resorting  to  this  form  of  argument 
— the  Sorites — we  do  well  to  be  suspicious  of  them,  for  of 
all  the  figures  of  logic,  it  is  the  most  notoriously  tricky 
and  untrustworthy.  To  exhibit  just  where  the  catch  of 
the  fallacy  lies  would  be  more  appropriate  to  a  tract  on 
logic  than  to  one  on  Temperance.  It  is  enough  to  say 
that  the  argument  proves  an  absurdity  ;  for  it  is  just  as 
effective  to  break  down  most  other  moral  distinctions, 
as  to  break  down  the  distinction  between  temperance 
and  excess  in  the  use  of  wine  or  cider.  You  cannot  define 
exactly  where  a  praise  worth}'-  thrift  begins  to  turn  into  a 
censurable  parsimony  ;  but,  for  all  that,  we  are  not  going 
to  take  a  monastic  "  vow  of  poverty,"  nor  enact  the 
Spartan  "  prohibitory  law  "  against  the  accumulation  of 
money.  You  cannot  tell  where  good  taste  in  dress 
becomes  extravagance  ;  but,  for  all  that,  we  shall  hardly 
join  the  Quakers  in  a  pledge  of  total  abstinence  from 
ornament.  You  cannot  draw  the  line  at  which  a  holy 
resistance  to  tyranny  degenerates  into  faction  and 
sedition ;  but  for  all  that,  we  are  not  doing  to  renounce 
or  deny  the  right  of  revolution.  There  are  some  questions 
of  duty  that  are,  and  must  be,  left  for  each  conscience  to 
settle  for  itself,  as  it  shall  answer  to  its  own  Master.^ 

1.  See  a  lively  passage  in  Macaulaj  's  History  of  England  (chap.  ix.  at  the 
beginning),  showing  the  ethical  absurdities  into  which  this  sort  of  reasoning 
leads. 

The  abstinence  men,  by  the  way,  do  not  seem  to  have  suspected  that  this 

19 


290  THE  TEMPERANCE  REFORMATION. 

4.  Tlie  Moral  fallacy — so  called  by  courtesy.  It  would 
be  better  to  say  the  immoral  and  demoralizing  argument ; 
for  probably  there  is  no  one  mistake  of  the  Temperance 
Societies  which  more  than  this  has  caused  the  Temperance 
Reformation  to  "  send  forth  a  stinking  savor  "  into  the 
nostrils  of  good  men.  It  lies  in  asserting  that  the 
temptation  and  passion  which  lead  to  drunkenness  are 
uncontrolla,ble — a  most  pernicious  and  corrupting  asser- 
tion, the  vicious  consequences  of  which  are  felt  in  all  the 
relations  of  the  Temperance  Reformation.  We  shall  have 
to  speak  of  it  again  and  again,  before  we  have  done  with 
this  discussion. 

Note  the  genesis  of  this  pitiable  mistake.  It  is  not  a 
false  premise,  which  has  misled  the  Temperance  reformers 
to  wrong  conclusions.  It  is  a  false  argument,  to  which 
they  have  resorted  from  the  necessity  of  defending  a  false 
position.  The  point  to  be  achieved  was  to  compel  every- 
body, everywhere  and  always,  to  adopt  the  total  abstinence 
practice.  The  thesis  to  be  proved  was  that  the  temperate 
use  of  wine,  beer  and  cider  was  a  sin.  Accordingly, 
when  the  Biblical  and  Scientific  arguments,  and  the 
"  Progressive-Approach  "  quibble,  fell  somewhat  short  of 
producing  conviction,  the  Moral  argument  became  a 
necessity  of  the  situation.  The  rhetorical  capabilities  of 
the  argument  were  superior.  It  was  to  be  supported 
mainly  by  confident  assertion  and  frequent  reiteration, 
together  with  intense  descriptions  and  the  narration  of 
horrible  "experiences."  Withal,  it  commended  itself  to 
the  complacency  of  the  scurrilous  army  of  ditch-delivered 
lecturing  reformed  drunkards  (whose  glory  was  in  their 

argument  may  be  used  just  as  effectively  to  prove  that  a  quart  of  brandy  will 
not  intoxicate,  as  to  prove  tliat  a  teaspoonful  of  cider  will. 


THE  TEMPERANCE  REFORMATION.  291 

shame),  inasmuch  as  it  mitigated  or  excused  their  crimes, 
at  the  same  time  that  it  cast  a  slur  on  decent  people. 

It  was  a  two-edged  weapon.  It  claimed  that  the  passion 
for  intoxication  excited  by  moderate  drinking  is  over- 
whelming— irresistible  ;  that  the  point  of  responsibility 
for  drunkenness  is,  therefore,  not  where  temperance 
verges  toward  excess,  but  at  the  first  violation  of  the 
total  abstinence  principle.  In  its  zeal  against  "  moderate 
drinking  "  its  mild  censures  against  drunkenness  lost  all 
their  emphasis.  It  was  so  fierce  to  make  temperance  a 
crime,  that  it  made  out  intemperance  to  be  only  a  mis- 
fortune. 

We  shall  see,  soon,  how  this  piece  of  sophistry  has 
infected  all  the  various  measures  of  recent  Temperance 
Reform. 

Just  here,  doubtless,  a  question  of  expediency  will  arise 
in  many  minds,  whether,  after  all,  the  diff'usion  of  these 
fallacies  is  not  doing  so  much  good  that  it  is  better  not  to 
try  to  expose  them,  but  rather  let  them  go  on  and 
accomplish  what  good  they  can.  The  question,  is  not  of 
the  sort  which  weighs  much  in  ingenuous  minds;  but  some 
minds  are  not  ingenuous,  and  it  must  needs  be  answered 
for  the  benefit  of  such. 

And  the  answer  is — promptly  and  decisively — it  is  not 
expedient  to  conceal  and  abet  the  fallacies  of  the  recent 
Temperance  Reformers  ;  and  the  fact  that  it  is  manifestly 
inexpedient,  completes  the  evidence  that  their  fallacies 
are  fallacies.  It  is  inexpedient  to  propagate  falsehoods, 
and  those  sentiments  are  falsehoods  which  it  is  inexpedient 
to  propagate. 

Witness    some    of  the    evil    results   incidental   to   the 


292  .THE  TEMPERANCE  REFORMATION. 

prosecution  of  the  Temperance  E-eformation  on  delusive 
principles  : 

1.  It  brings  down  a  great  and  noble  reformation  of 
morals  into  the  category  of  those  petty  and  impotent 
crusades  against  vice,  which  proceed  on  the  supposition 
that  the  proper  antidote  for  laxit}^  is  austerity  and 
superstition, — on  the  strange  policy  which  thinks  more 
effectually  to  rebuke  an  evil,  not  by  rebuking  the  evil 
itself,  but  by  denouncing  it  in  common  with  innocent  or 
useful  things  with  which  it  is  associated.  Social  dissipa- 
tion needs  to  be  checked,  and  indelicate  and  lascivious 
dances  to  be  discountenanced,  and  so  the  wise  people 
institute  a  raid  against  innocent  cotillions.  Gambling  is 
a  prevalent  vice,  the  wickedness  of  which  really  needs  to 
be  exposed,  and  to  be  intelligibly  impressed  on  the 
conscience  of  society.  But  instead  of  doing  this,  it  is  held 
to  be  better  to  try  to  breed  a  superstitious  horror  of 
colored  cards,  a  fear  of  billiard  tables,  and  a  reverential 
dread  of  the  lot.^  Doubtless  many  a  devout  person 
mourns,  because  ten-pin  alleys  could  not  be  permanently 
sequestered  to  purposes  of  iniquity,  under  the  same  con- 
demnation. Twenty  years  ago,  profaneness,  mustaches, 
smoking,  soft  hats  and  dissipation  were  pretty  much 
confounded  under  the  sweep  of  public  censure.  Consider- 
able discriminatron  has  been  learned  since  that  time,  and 
yet   the    force    of  the    protest  against   profaneness   and 


1.  Witness  the  protest  of  sundry  clergymen  of  this  city,  last  winter,  against 
the  proposed  introduction  of  raffling  at  the  Metropolitan  Sanitary  Fair.  It  was 
a  timely  protest  against  the  intended  desecration  of  a  noble  charity  by  a 
mischievous  abuse.  But  instead  of  being  predicated  on  the  strong  and  simple 
reasons  tliat  forbid  gambling  in  general,  to  av  hat  {i  pitiful  superstition  did  it 
make  appeal  ! 


THE  TEMPERANCE  REFORMATION.  293 

dissipation  has  not  been  much  weakened  by  it — not  very 
much. 

2.  The  prosecution  of  the  Temperance  Reformation  on 
these  fallacious  grounds  tends  to  create  a  factitious 
conscience  in  those  who  are  persuaded  by  it.  (We  pass 
over  the  consideration  of  its  effect  on  those  who  are 
repelled  from  it  at  the  start  by  the  evidently  unscriptural 
and  unreasonable  nature  of  its  demands.)  What  the  result 
of  such  an  artificial  conscience  is,  in  weakening  and 
perverting  the  true  moral  sense,  is  evident  by  a  multitude 
of  instances  drawn  from  every  system  of  "  will-worship  " 
that  has  been  brought  into  the  world,  from  the  days  of 
Cain  till  now.  (iod's  law  is  fitted  to  man's  capacity.  By 
as  much  as  you  superadd  to  it  human  traditions  and 
ordinances,  you  drive  out  judgment  and  the  love  of  God. 
Increase  forms  without  sanction,  and  you  starve  the 
spirit.  Multiply  saints'  days,  and  you  lose  the  Sabbath. 
Introduce  penance,  and  you  expel  repentance.  If  you 
would  see  the  natural  result  of  this  sort  of  training,  find 
it  in  the  case  of  your  servants,  who  steal  eggs  to  keep 
Lent  on  :  or  in  the  case  of  that  eminent  Christian  of  the 
Greek  Church,  who,  in  pursuing  his  lawful  calling  of 
piracy,  was  much  shocked  and  troubled  in  conscience  to 
get  blood  in  his  mouth  on  a  Frida}'.  The  late  talk  of  the 
Temperance  Reformers,  with  its  sharply-defined  and 
formulated  rules  of  duty,  is  the  very  Pharisaism  of  the 
Christian  dispensation,  and  its  Pharisaic  nature  shows  out 
in  its  developments. 

3.  By  this  treatment,  the  new  temperance  dogmas 
prepare  for  finally  breaking  down  the  conscience  with  a 
crash.  This  is  the  natural  result  of  multiplying  artificial 
enactments  of  morality. 


294  THE  TEMPERANCE  REFORMATION. 

It  is  no  very  difficult  matter  to  institute  these  conven- 
tional laws,  and  give  them  the  show  of  authority,  especially 
with  very  young  and  very  ignorant  persons.  You  can 
train  your  bo)^  so  that  he  will  grow  up  to  j'-ears  of 
discretion  with  a  profound  religious  conviction  that  hall- 
Ijlaying  is  a  sin  against  God,  and  you  can  train  yourself 
at  the  same  time  into  a  thankful  assurance  that  you  have 
thereby  secured  him  against  many  perils  of  evil  company. 
But  there  will  be,  finall}^,  one  of  two  results  :  (1.)  The 
boy,  by  unusual  obedience,  and  self-denial,  and  faith  in 
his  parents,  may  perhaps  refrain  from  the  innocent  play, 
with  an  upright  conscience,  until,  being  come  to  years  of 
discretion,  he  observes  and  reasons  for  himself,  and  then 
discovers  that  he  has  been  imposed  upon  by  the  fraud  or 
superstition  or  ignorance  of  his  parents.  AVhat  then  ?  Is 
it  only  his  views  on  ball  playing  that  are  disturbed  ? 
Nay  !  the  foundations  are  destro3'ed,  and  what  shall  the 
righteous  do  ?  Ever3^thing  is  unsettled  ;  and  it  shall  be 
well,  for  him  and  for  others  if  he  do  not  rash  to  the 
conclusion,  that  if  this  is  not  wrung,  then  nothing  is 
wrong.  Eaith  in  his  parents  and  Christian  teachers  ought 
to  have  been  the  round  in  the  ladder  by  which  he  should 
rise  to  faith  in  Grod ;  he  rested  his  weight  on  this  round 
and  it  broke  under  his  foot.  (2.)  But  more  likely  the 
mere  word  of  his  parents  will  not  be  enough  to  hold  him 
back  from  the  common  practice  and  amusement  of  his 
comrades.  "  With  a  vague,  secret  sense  of  transgression," 
he  will  be  tempted  into  the  innocent  game — innocent 
except  for  him.  He  will  go  into  it  with  a  doubtful  con- 
science, and  therefore  with  a  guilty  one,  and  this  artifice 
of  over-righteousness  shall  become  the  very  "snare  of  the 
fowler"  to  his  soul.  Undoubtedly,  it  is  true,  as  temperance 


THE  TEMPERANCE  REFORMATION".  295 

orators  claim — oftener  true  now  than  it  used  to  be — that 
many  a  young  criminal  can  refer  to  his  first  glass  of  cider 
as  the  beginning  of  his  career  of  crime.  ^  So  evil  a  thing 
is  it  for  the  conscience,  to  turn  the  kingdom  of  Grod  into 
meat  and  drink  !  So  penlous  a  business  is  the  inventing 
of  new  sins  ! 

4.  But  the  most  pitiable  effect  of  the  shuffle  by  which 
this  fallacy  has  been  slipped  into  the  substructure  of  the 
Temperance  Eeformation  is  this :  that  it  is  dehaucldng  the 
conscience  of  the  Temjjerance  Eejormers  themselves^  and  of 
the  Church  of  Christ. 

Eead  the  list  of  eminent  citizens  which  monthly 
decorates  the  head  of  that  more  or  less  amusing  periodical, 
the  "  Journal  of  the  American  Temperance  Uyiionj' — the 
list  of  officers  of  the  society.  There  are  thirty-seven  of 
them,  all  in  a  row.  We  are  an  obscure  individual,  and 
these  are  illustrious  generals,  admirals,  honorables,  and 
doctors  of  divinity;  consequently  our  personal  acquaint- 
ance with  them  is  limited.  Will  some  one  who  knows  tell 
us  bow  many  of  them  even  defend  the  principles  (in 
private)  which  their  names  are  annually  and  monthly 
paraded  to  sustain  ?  Also,  how  many  of  the  stanchest 
Abdiels  of  them  all  "  animiim  mutant  cum  tracts  mare 
currant  ?  " 

The  executive  committee  of  the  American  Tract  Society, 
Nassau  Street,  New  York,  is  composed  of  gentlemen  of  a 
character  for  all  the  private  virtues,  which  is  more  than 
fair — it  is  refulgent.  By  way  of  issuing  what  shall  approve 
itself  to  all  evangelical  Christians,  they  have  set  forth  a 
series  of  controversial  pamphlets  on  the  total  abstinence 

1.  See  an  instructive  passage  in  F.  W.  Robertson's  Sermons,  Second  series, 
pp.  20a,  210. 


296  THE  TEMPERANCE  REFORMATION. 

question,  which  would  not  get  a  majority  vote  of  appro- 
bation from  any  Church  in  Christendom  outside  of  America 
and  the  American  missions.  How  many  of  these  gentlemen 
personally  advocate  the  rule  of  total  abstinence?  how 
many  of  them  ostensibly  practice  it  ?  how  many  really 
do  ?  how  many  of  them  take  their  wine  regularly  ?  how 
many  of  them  only  occasionally  ?  how  many  of  them  (to 
use  the  standard  phase)  "  put  their  bottle  to  their 
neighbors'   lips"   at   dinners  and  evening  parties  ?     Does 

Mr. ? — but    it    would    be    cruel    to    call    names. 

Questions  like  these  were  propounded  one  day  at  the 
Academy  of  Music,  in  the  presence  of  these  gentlemen, 
but  received  no  response,  except  a  flourish  of  the  excellent 
Dr.  Spring's  tobacco-box,  and  a  general  wincing  all  round 
the  stage. 

"  Shame  !  "  says  the  Christian  public,  "  this  is  only  the 
slanderous  innuendo  of  an  anonymous  writer  against  some 
of  the  best  and  most  consistent  people."  Dear  public, 
Christian  public,  credulous  public,  you  are  mistaken. 
This  code  of  Christian  duties,  which  is  set  forth  with  such 
most  unctuous  unction,  is  meant  for  the  lower  classes.  It 
is  esteemed  a  good  thing  for  the  rural  districts.  It  will 
be  voted  through  unanimously  in  synods  and  other  mixed 
meetings,  out  of  consideration  to  weak  consciences  and 
country  members ;  but  when  you  come  down  to  matters 
of  practical  importance,  as  at  the  dinner-table,  there  is  a 
good  deal  to  be  said  on  the  other  side  of  the  question. 
You  supposed,  dear  public,  that  this  code  was  meant  to 
apply  in  Madison  Square  and  on  Murray  Hill  ?  Bless 
your  simple  soul ! 

We  cannot  jest  about  this  matter  ;  it  is  too  painful  a 
business.     This  total-abstinence  movement  may  have  done 


THE  TEMPERANCE  llEFORMATION.  297 

a  great   deal  of   good.    We   confidently  believe   that   it 
has.  Grod  be  thanked  for  all  that  is  to  be  reckoned  to  that 
side  of  the  account.  But  if  it  has  cost  the  Church  of  Christ 
its  good  conscience  before  its  Lord,  it  has   cost  too  much. 
These  officers,   let  it  be  remembered,  are  not   peculiar 
members  of  the  community.    "Like   people  like   priest." 
The  churches  are  full,  in  pulpit  and  pews,  of  fluent  talkers 
in  the  cant  of  the  total-abstinence  movement,  who,  whether 
overtly  or  covertly,  are  living  in  habitual  violation  of  its 
principles.  This  is   so   common — so  common  among   the 
best  men — that  it  calls  oat  not  even   remark,   much  less 
the  exercise  of  Christian  rebuke  or  discipline.  Our  Temper- 
ance Reformation  has  cost  too  much.    For  there  are   some 
things  that  are  worse  than  drunkenness.  The   Pharisaism 
which  binds  heavy  burdens  and  grievous  to  be  borne,  and 
lays  them  on  other  men's  shoulders,   but  will  not  touch 
them  with  one  of  its  fingers,  is  worse  than  drunkenness. 
The  "dastardly  condemnation  of  the  weak,  for  sins  which 
are  venial  in  the  strong,"  is  worse  than  drunkenness.  The 
breaking  of  the  simple,    transparent    integrity    of    the 
conscience  of  the  Christian  Church  and  ministry,  is  worse 
than  drunkenness.  It  was  a  pitiable  sight,  fifty  years  ago, 
at  an   ordination,  to   see  "  two    aged    ministers   literall}'- 
drunk,  and  a  third  indecently  excited  with  strong  drink."  ^ 
It  was  a  sadder  sight,  notwithstanding  all  that  there  was  of 
ludicrous  about  it,    five  years  ago,  at  a   great  meeting  of 
a  great  Christian  society,  to  see  the  board  of  its  officers,  when 
charged  with  publishing   sentiments  and  precepts  which 
privately  they  did  not  pretend  to  hold  nor  practice,  nudging 
one  another  round  the  platform.'^   Wo  unto  yoUy  Jiypocrites  I 

1.  See  letter  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Woods,  above  quoted. 

2.  Sco  the  New  York  daily  papers  of  May,  1859. 


298  THE  TEMPERANCE  REFORMATION. 

Do  we,  then,  oppose  total  abstinence?  By  no  means, 
it  has  been,  in  its  day,  a  most  useful  expedient.  It  may 
often  be  such  again.  What  we  do  is  this:  We  abandon 
the  commandments  of  men  and  come  back  to  something 
better  and  safer — to  the  principle  of  Christian  liberty  and 
love.  "  If  meat  make  my  brother  to  offend,  I  will  eat  no 
meat  while  the  world  standeth;"  that  is,  I  will  abstain  if 
1  can  do  any  good  by  it.  Only  mark  here  two  things: 
1.  On  the  question  whether  or  not  abstinence  is  expedient 
in  any  particular  case,  the  decision  is  left  to  each  man's 
conscience  in  the  sight  of  God;  and,  in  deciding  it,  if  he  is 
a  man,  he  is  not  to  be  bullied  nor  dictated  to  by  all  the 
force  of  the  Temperance  Union,  with  all  the  sanctity  of 
the  Tract  Societ}^  to  back  it.  2.  Further,  however 
cheerfully  we  may  give  up  a  lawful  thing  to  help  our 
weak  brother,  we  do  not  undertake  an}^  obligation  to  say 
to  him  that  the  lawful  thing  is  unlawful.  We  won't  tell 
lies  for  anybody's  Aveak  brother. 

There  are  two  wa3^s  of  approaching  a  person  who  is  in 
danger  of  excess  in  Avine.  One  way  is  to  tell  him  that 
wine  is  poisonous;,  that  it  never  does  anybody  good,  but 
-always  harm;  that  the  Bible  forbids  all  use  of  it;  that 
those  who  use  it  at  all  have  no  security  against  being 
drunkards;  that  therefore  it  is  wicked  ever  to  drink  wine 
and  5^ou  never  do.*  To  all  which,  if  he  is  a  tolerably 
intelligent  man,  he  will  probably  answer  "j90o/i/"  The 
other  way  is  to  tell  him  the  truth;  to  assure  him,  with 
such  proofs  as  you  can  show,  that  he  is  in  personal  peril; 
to  point  out  the  personal  im])ortance  to  him  of  a  rigorous 
abstinence,  and  to  offer  to  him,  if  it  will  be  of  any  help  to 
him  in  such  a  course,  that  you  will   give  up   for  Jiis  sake 


THE  TEMPERANCE  REFORMATION.  299 

the  daily  glass  of  wine  or  ale  which  is  important  to  your 
comfort  or  your  health. 

It  is  because  this  latter  method  is  founded  in  truth  and 
godly  sincerity  that  we  believe  it  to  be  effective  and 
expedient;  and  because  it  is  so  evidently  the  effective 
and  expedient  wa}^,  that  we  are  reassured  that  it  is  true. 

But  let  all  temperance  reasoners  bear  in  mind,  what 
almost  all  of  them  have  forgotten,  that  if  this  argument 
from  Christian  liberty  is  to  be  used,  then  the  argument 
from  the  absolute  duty  of  abstinence  must  be  renounced; 
and  vice  versa.  The  two  are  incompatible.  It  is  not 
competent  to  urge  a  man,  on  the  ground  of  lawful 
expediency,  to  refrain  from  the  use  of  a  slow  poison  and 
from  the  practice  of  gradual  suicide;  nor  to  forbid  as  a 
sin  2'>6r  se  the  "  lawful  thing  which  is  not  expedient." 
Some  of  the  abstinence  orators  seem  to  have  seen  how  the 
rest  have  stultified  themselves  with  two  inconsistent 
arguments,  and  in  making  their  own  election  between  the 
two  have  decided  with  great  unanimity  to  appeal  to  law 
rather  than  love,  to  physiology  and  organic  chemistry 
rather  than  to  the  gospel,  to  Liebig  rather  than  to  Paul. 
A  sad  mistake ! 


It  must  be  quite  unnecessary  to  show  that  the  false 
position  and  fallacious  arguments  of  the  Temperance 
Reformation,  which  we  have  now  exhibited,  are  not  mere 
mistakes  of  theory,  having  no  practical  bearings  or 
consequences.  The  monstrous  mistakes  of  action  which 
have  characterized  all  its  declining  years,  and  of  which 
we  have  now  to  speak,  are  distinctly  traceable  to  its  tirst 
falsehood. 


300  THE  TEMPERANCE  REFORMATION. 

It  would  seem  that  the  obvious  line  of  operation  of  a 
society  for  suppressing  the  crime  of  drunkenness  should 
be  something  like  this:  1.  As  towards  society — to  fasten 
public  attention  firmly  upon  the  main  subject;  to  inform 
the  public  mind  thoroughly  of  the  substantial  facts  and 
unquestionable  principles  of  the  case  ;  to  quicken  the 
public  conscience  to  a  healthful  sensitiveness  on  the 
subject  of  the  great  sin  to  be  opposed  ;  to  consolidate 
society,  to  the  utmost,  in  opposition  to  drunkenness  ;  to 
bind  itself  in  the  closest  possible  alliance  with  the  church 
of  Christ.  2.  As  towards  the  criminals  themselves — to 
strengthen  the  moral  power  of  motives  for  refraining  from 
crime  ;  to  increase  the  restraints  of  law  to  deter  from  it. 
3.  As  towards  the  antecedents  of  drunkenness — to 
demonstrate,  by  every  just  argument,  the  wickedness  of 
enticing,  to  drunkenness  ;  to  discourage,  by  all  just 
considerations,  such  temperate  use  of  liquors  capable  of 
producing  intoxication,  as  is  likely  to  do  harm.  This  is 
the  course  which  the  Temperance  Keformation  mainly 
followed  in  its  best  days. 

The  complaint  which  we  have  to  make  against  the 
Temperance  Reformation  as  now  conducted,  a  complaint 
which  we  are  willing  to  "  give  bonds  to  prosecute,"  is 
this,  that  in  all  tlyese  points  it  has  departed  from  its 
obvious  duty,  and 'gone,  wittingly  or  unwittingly,  in  the 
opposite  direction.  Dealing  with  society,  it  has  diverted  the 
public  attention  from  the  subject  of  drunkenness;  it  has 
confused  the  public  mind  with  fanciful  theories  and 
unsubstantiated  allegations  and  chimerical  plans;  it  has 
demoralized  the  conscience  of  st)cifcty  concerning  the  guilt 
of  drunkenness;  it  has  divi<led  and  alienated  the  good-will 
of  the  people;  it  has  sundered    the  natural  alliance  of  its 


THE  TEMPERANCE  REFORMATION.  301 

work  of  moral  and  social  reform  with  the  Christian 
church.  Dealing  with  the  victim  of  this  sin,  it  has 
weakened  the  force  of  motives  over  him,  and  cut  the 
sinews  of  his  will;  it  has  diverted  from  his  crime  the 
reprobation  of  public  sentiment,  and  the  effective  force  of 
punitive  law.  Dealing  with  the  enticements  and  antecedents 
to  drunkenness,  it  has,  indirectly  and  unconsciously, 
palliated  the  guilt  of  enticing  to  drunkenness ;  it  has  taken 
from  the  consciences  of  the  unwary  the  safeguards 
against  the  dangerous  temperate  use  of  drinks  that  might 
intoxicate. 

This  is  a  long  indictment,  and  the  limits  of  space  within 
which  we  propose  to  restrict  ourselves  forbid  a  long 
argument.  We  can  do  little  more  than  "  open  the  case." 
Perhaps  we  maj^  have  more  to  say,  when  we  have  heard 
from  the  defense.  For  the  present,  let  us  say,  briefly, 
that  the  Temperance  Reformers  have  achieved  these 
untoward  results: 

1.  By  insisting,  as  the  fundamental  maxim  of  their 
argument,  on  the  "  total-abstinence "  theory,  that 
temperance  is  intemperance  (this  is  hardly  an  exaggeration, 
even  of  their  language),  that  moderation  in  the  use  of 
wine  or  beer  is  excess  in  the  same,  that  the  sin  of 
drunkenness  inheres  in  all  "  use  of  intoxicating  liquors 
as  a  beverage.  "  ^ 

1.  The  citations  made  by  the  late  Rev.  W.  J.  Conybeave  in  his  very  candid 
article  on  "  Aj?itation  and  Lej?islation  a.^'aiust  Intemperance"  (Ed.  Rev. 
.July,  185i),  are  a  fair  exhibition  of  the  "  state  of  the  ar<?unient  "  on  either  side 
of  the  Atlantic.  Tlie  folloAvin'jr  is  from  the  report,  in  a  Temperance  paper,  of  a 
teetotal  tea  party  at  Birminj^ham  Town  Hall  : 

"  After  tea,  the  cliairman  proceeded  to  address  the  meeting :    and  so  far 

forgot  his  position  as  to  contend  that  a  glass  of  ale  would  do  a  man  no  harm,  and 
that  it  was  not  poison  (!}.  He  was  followed  by  the  two  Messrs.  Cadbury,  who 
both  ably  refuted  the  strange  assertions  of  the  chairman.  *  *  * 

We  anderstand  that  the  chairman  has  since  resigned  his  position,  if  not  his 


302  THE  TEMPERANCE  REFORMATION. 

Notice  how  the  influence  of  this  mistake  has  run  along 
through  the  whole  course  of  proper  reformatory  effort,  to 
vitiate  or  thwart  it.  The  crime  of  drunkenness  was  a 
simple,  clear  object  on  which  the  attention  of  the  public 
might  have  been  fastened.  It  would  have  been  prone 
enough,  doubtless,  to  wander  ofl"  upon  related  topics, 
towards  which  those  interested  in  the  maintenance  of 
vice  would  have  been  glad  enough  to  divert  it.  But 
there  could  have  been  no  great  difficulty  in  permanently 
fastening  the  public  gaze  upon  it  as 

"  The  direful  spring 
Of  woes  unnumbered," 

in  exhibiting  the  simple  and  undeniable  but  appalling 
facts  which  illustrate  it,  and  the  admitted  principles  which 
underlie  the  subject  of  the  vice  and  its  reform.  Thus  the 
conscience  of  the  community  might  have  been  quickened 
to  a  healthful  horror  of  the  sin.  Thus  it  was  quickened, 
when  the  Temperance  Eeformation  was  younger  and 
stronger  than  it  now  is. 

How  is  it  now?  The  arguments  of  the  temperance  men 
are  scattered,  and  the  attention  of  the  public  frittered 
away,  and  the  whole  flank  of  the  reformation  laid  open  to 
attack,  by  the  policy  of  following  out  protracted  and 
attenuated  lines  of  argument,  starting,  often,  from  fanciful 

membership,  in  the  society.  Indeed  it  appeared  to  be  full  time.  He  is  either  a 
very  silly  person,  or  was  actinj^  a  very  di's<jraccfnl  part." — Quoted  in 
Comjbeare'n  Essays  p.  382. 

"  The  motive  wliich  leads  the  zealots  to  insist  so  obstinately  on  this  doctrine 
of  poi80«  is  their  desire  to  prevent  even  the  smallest  indul^^ence  in  fermented 
liquors.         *  *  *      They  assert  moderate  drinking  to  be  an  expression 

as  self-contradictory  as  moderate  lying,  or  moderate  stealing.  Indeed,  the  more 
zealous  members  of  the  sect  show  far  greater  abhorrence  for  moderate  drinkers 
than  for  actual  drunkards.  The  latter  are  represented  as  victims,  the  former  as 
seducers."— /d.  383. 


thp:  temperance  reformation.  303 

theories  as  a  base.  The  whole  decision  of  the  question 
has  been  made  to  turn,  sometimes,  upon  matters  in  the 
occult  and  imperfect  sciences  of  physiology  and  organic 
chemistry,  or  on  the  slenderest  evidence  in  Biblical 
archaeology  or  Shemitic  philology.^ 

But  not  only  is  the  strength  of  the  Temperance  cause 
with  the  reason  of  men  damaged  by  postulating  it  on  such 
weak  assumptions,  or  at  best  such  refined  achievements 
of  science — its  strength  with  the  popular  conscience  is 
still  more  pitiably  reduced.  There  would  doubtless  be  a 
certain  apparent  gain  forthereform,  if,  without  compensating 
loss,  the  public  heart  could  be  made  to  feel  that  the 
temperate  use  of  wine  or  ale  in  the  diet  was  a  sin  differing 
only  in  the  degree  of  turpitude  from  the  sin  of  debauchery. 
But  how  evident  it  is,  that  when  it  is  attempted  to  force 
the  public  conscience  to  this  position,  all  the  opprobrium 
that  is  put  upon  temperate  drinking  is  so  much  deducted 
from  the  disgrace  of  drunkenness!  Once  impress  it  on  the 
general  conscience  that  the  liev.  Dr.  A,  with  his  daily 
bottle  of  Philadelphia  ale,  or  old  Judge  B,  who  has  never 
reformed  his  early  habit  of  taking  a  thimblefnll  of  sherry 
with  his  dinner,  are  just  as  guilty  as  the  sots  that  get 
drunk  daily  at  the  corner-grocery,  and  if  anything  a 
little    more    so, — and    the     result     may    be    extremely 


1.  As  an  instance  of  the  way  in  which  the  whole  temperance  cause  has  been 
staked  by  its  advocates  on  unessential  and  doubtful  questions,  wc  quote  from  a 
sermon  by  one  of  the  best  of  American  preachers,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Kirk,  of  Boston. 
It  is  pr(jper  to  say  that  this  sermon  was  preached  more  than  a  quarter  of  a 
century  a;?o. 

"  I  will  .say  (to  bej^in)  that,  if  I  can  tind  that  my  blessed  Redeemer  made  and 
gave  an  intoxicating  drink,  I  drop  my  stronj?  arj^umcnt.  x-  *  *  i  give 
Vf  TUE  TE.MrEU\NCE  CAUSE,  bccausc  I  advocate  it  on  the  belief  that  intoxicating 
drink  (or  alcohol  rather),  is  a  poison,  and  I  do  not  believe  Jesus  Christ  ever  made 
poison  to  if ive  to  a  man  in  hoaltli." 


304  THE  TEMPERANCE  REFORMATION. 

annojnng  to  A  and  B,  doubtless  (which  we  concede  to  be  a 
good  point  gained)  but  not  half  so  much  so  as  it  must  be 
comforting  to  the  grocer  and  his  customers,  and  demorali- 
zing to  the  conscience  of  the  community.  No  doubt,  the 
Temperance  men  have  everything  their  own  way  for  a 
time,  by  this  process.  But  when  the  tide  of  their 
agitation  ebbs  a  little,  and  the  steady  weight  of  character 
of  the  old  judge  and  the  reverend  doctor  ("  those 
incorrigible  rum-suckers,"  as  they  used  to  be  called  by  the 
elequent  reformed  drunkard  from  the  next  village)  is  felt 
as  of  old  among  the  people,  the  general  conviction  is  that 
after  all  that  has  been  said,  drunkenness  is  not  so  bad  a 
thing  if  two  such  nice  old  gentlemen  practice  it  every 
day. 

On  simple,  admitted,-  undeniable  principles,  the  whole 
moral  force  of  societ}^  might  easily  have  been  concentrated 
against  the  prevalence  of  drunkenness.  But  instead  of 
offering  a  broad  platform,  on  which  good  men  could 
gather,  the  Temperance  Societies  have  preferred,  in  their 
fanatical  confidence  in  their  favorite  notions  of  physiology 
and  organic  chemistry,  their  novel  specialties  in  ethics,  and 
their  "  private  interpretations "  of  the  Scriptures,  to 
organize  a  faction  and  a  sect.  There  was  to  be  omnipotent 
virtue  in  a  total  abstinence  pledge ;  and  the  Temperance 
Society,  founded  on  a  fleeting  excitement  and  a  congeries 
of  exaggerated  theories,  was  supposed  to  be  builded  on  a 
rock,  and  proof  against  tlie  gates  of  hell.  We  remember 
that  it  used  to  be  the  favorite  apology  of  ministers  of  a 
certain  stripe,  when  dodging  the  demand  that  they  should 
lend  their  aid  in  resisting  the  prodigious  evils  of 
drunkenness, — that  they  need  not  join  the  Temperance 
Society,  because    The  Church   was  the   best  society  for 


THE  TEMPERANCE  REFORMATION.  305 

moral  reform.  Their  efforts  ivithin  the  church,  in  behalf 
of  temperance,  were  so  generally  inappreciable,  that  they 
got  little  credit  for  good  faith.  But,  speaking  "  wiser 
than  they  knew,"  they  enunciated  a  principle  of  which 
time  has  taught  us  the  truth.  It  was  an  evil  hour  for  the 
Temperance  cause,  when  it  broke  alliance  with  the  church 
of  Christ,  and  set  up  its  own  sacrament,  or  pledge,  of 
teetotalism,  and  its  mystical  child's  play  of  "Rechabites  " 
and  "Templars,"  instead  of  the  Christian  ministry  and 
ordinances.  At  this  day  the  most  effective  Temperance 
Union  is  a  vigorous  Home  Missionary  Society;  the  most 
powerful  corps  of  Temperance  lecturers  is  the  Christian 
ministry  in  the  prosecution  of  their  regular  duties:  and  the 
most  successful  local  Temperance  Society,  anywhere,  is  a 
faithful  and  diligent  parish  church.  Mr.  (Jough,  the 
greatest  and  wisest  man  of  the  Temperance  movement, 
has  put  an  irreversible  judgment  on  this  part  of  the  policy 
of  that  movement,  in  the  remark  that  he  has  known  few 
instances  of  lasting  reform  from  habits  of  drunkenness, 
except  such  as  were  connected  with  a  radical,  religious 
renewal  of  the  heart. 

The  Temperance  Reformation  has  brought  its  own 
cause  to  ruin, 

2,  \^Y  countenancing  the  assertion  that  the  temptation 
to  drunkenness,  once  awakened  by  "  moderate  drinking," 
is  irresistible. 

This  assertion,  there  is  internal  reason  to  believe,  was 

introduced  into  the  methods  of  the  Reformation,   by  the 

agency  of  the  lecturing    reformed-drunkards    and   their 

friends.     It  is  easy  to  see  that  there  was  an  "  irresistible 

temptation  "  to  this  class  of  people  to  seize  on  an  assertion 

which,   while  it   magnified    the    total-abstinence    dogma, 

so 


306  THE  TEMPERANCE  REFORMATION. 

either  absolutely  excused,  or  palliated  down  to  the  very 
borders  of  a  virtue,  the  infamy  of  their  own  past  lives. 
Temperate  drinking  was  the  mark  of  a  sordid  soul.  "  The 
man  who  squeezes  his  sixpence  till  it  squeals,  before  he 
will  pay  it  out  for  liquor,  will  never  be  a  drunkard. 
No,  no  !  it  is  your  generous  I  whole-souled  !  ! 
NO-0-OBLE  !  !  ! "  etc.  eto.^  This  sort  of  talk,  imported 
from  bar-rooms  and  groggeries  into  the  pulpit  and  temper- 
ance meeting,  repeated  as  the  apology  for  crime,  and  as 
the  ground  of  shifting  blame  from  the  criminal  to  his 
accessory,  was  well  calculated  to  weaken  the  force  of 
those  motives  which,  in  the  long  run,  must  be  mainly 
relied  on  for  the  prevention  and  cure  of  drunkenness. 
Could  the  ignominy  of  that  crime  be  so  deep,  which  was 
so  nearly  an  accident — which  was  the  proof  of  the  most 
splendid  and  noble  qualities  of  character,  and  the  narration 
of  which  excited  such  touching  expressions  of  interest,  or 
such  roars  of  laughter,  and  the  reputation  of  which 
seemed  a  free  ticket  to  popularity  and  fame  ?  Above  all, 
if  the  devil  had  desired  to  cut  the  vital  nerve  of  all  effort 
on  the  part  of  the  tempted  and  the  fallen,  could  he  have 
invented  a  more  effective  process  than  this,  of  representing 
to  such  that  temptation  was  irresistible,  that  effort  was 
useless,  that  ruin  was  a  sure  thing,  but  that  of  the 
responsibility  of  it  they  were  relieved  ;  that  Grod  and  man 
would  hold  them  guiltless,  and  cast  the  blame  where  it 
belonged,  upon  the  tempter? 

1.  The  intelligent  admirers  of  Mr.  Goujjh  will  recognize  this  strain  as  one 
which  occurs  in  almost  all  liis  speeches,  and  which  forms  tlie  chief  blemish  of 
his  advocacy  of  temperate  reform.  We  wish  that  labors  so  full  of  wisdom,  as 
well  as  of  zeal  and  eloquence,  might  be  freed  from  the  taint  of  tliis  pernicious 
mistake.  So  far  as  we  remember,  the  late  .)ohn  Hawkins  never  spoke  of  bis 
former  life  in  any  other  tone  than  that  of  the  most  humble  and  penitent 
confession  of  personal  guilt. 


THE  TEMPERANCE  REFORMATION.  307 

It  is  evident,  without  remark,  that  the  next  step  after 
thus  reducing  the  moral  power  of  motives  over  the 
drunkard,  must  be  to  remove  from  him  the  restraints  of 
civil  l^w  to  prevent  or  punish  his  crime.  And  in  this 
direction  the  Temperance  Reformation  has  not  been  afraid 
to  venture. 

It  is  an  inevitable  corollary  from  the  last  position,  and 
one  which  we  have  already  anticipated,  that  the  Temper- 
ance Reformation  thwarts  and  vitiates  its  own  work, 

3,  By  the  habit  of  referring  the  sin  of  drunkenness  to 
temptation  as  its  efficient  cause,  and  attempting  to  direct 
against  the  temptation  and  the  tempter  the  condemnation 
and  punishment  which  ought  to  be  aimed  at  the  criminal 
and  his  crime.  This  is  not  a  peculiar  vice  of  the 
Temperance  Reformation;  it  is  onlj^  one  of  the  most  flagrant 
illustrations  of  a  prevalent  habit  of  the  public  mind.  It 
was  pointed  out,  eighteen  years  ago,  by  a  writer  in  the 
New  Englander  Quarterly,  in  language  so  pertinent  and 
clear,  that  we  can  do  no  better  than  to  copy  his  words  : 

"  The  time  was,  when  drunkenness  was  deemed  a  dreadful  sin, 
a  base  and  beastly  crime  on  the  part  of  the  drunkard,  against  his 
own  nature,  and  against  all  his  duties  to  his  family,  to  society,  and 
to  his  Maker  ;  and  some  of  us  are  of  the  same  opinion  still.  In 
those  days  we  had  laws  to  punish  a  man  for  being  drunk— laws 
which  are  not  yet  entirely  effaced  Irora  our  statute-books.  In  those 
days  a  man  was  held  responsible,  not  only  for  the  fact  of  having 
made  himself  drunk,  but  for  all  the  natural  consequences  of  his 
having  done  so  ;  and  if  an  intoxicated  man  committed  theft,  arson 
or  murder,  the  intoxication  did  not  excuse  him,  but  was  deemed  to 
be  an  aggravation  rather  than  a  mitigation  of  his  guilt.  But  for 
these  few  years  past,  a  great  eftbrt  has  been  in  progress,  to  advance 
the  welfare  of  society  by  suppressing  all  commerce  in  the  means  of 
intoxication.  We  do  not  here  deny  or  question  the  legitimacy  of 
the   movement.     But   we   ask   whether   in   connection   with   this 


308  THE  TEMPERANCE  REFORMATION. 

movement,  there  has  not  arisen  in  all  quarters  a  habit  of  over- 
looking the  guilt  of  the  drunkard,  and  exaggerating  the  guilt  of  the 
traffic  and  the  trafficker.  The  drunkard,  we  have  been  often  told, 
is  less  to  blame  than  tha  man  who  sold  him  the  liquor  ;  .and  the 
liquor  seller,  we  are  sometimes  told,  is  less  to  blame  than  his 
temperance  customers,  who,  if  they  would  combine  to  lay  him 
under  an  interdict,  might  compel  him  to  come  into  their  views  ; 
and  in  the  same  style  of  reasoning,  those  customers  are  less  to 
blame  than  the  town  that  permits  that  vender  to  have  a  license ; 
and  the  town  is  less  to  blame  than  the  state  which  might  prohibit 
the  traffic  absolutely  ; — and  wh}^  not  go  straight  through  with  this 
kind  of  logic,  and  say  that  the  state  is  after  all  less  to  blame  than 
God,  who  might  have  excluded  the  principle  of  fermentation  from 
the  universe,  and  thus  have  saved  us  all  this  trouble  ?  No  !  no  ! 
the  drunkard  himself,  first  of  all  and  chief  of  all,  bears  the  guilt  of 
his  own  drunkenness.  The  temptations  that  surrounded  him,  he 
ought  to  have  resisted  ;  and  had  he  resisted  them,  he  would  have 
gained  a  blessed  victory  :  but  with  his  destiny  in  his  own  hands, 
he  wickedly  bartered  away  his  birth-right.  And  all  the  rhetoric 
and  reasoning  which  would  present  that  base,  guilty,  self-degraded 
wretch  to  our  sympathies  as  a  poor  victim,  overcome  and  borne 
away  by  the  resistless  power  of  circumstances  and  temptations,  is 
of  the  nature  of  those  evil  communications  that  corrupt  good 
morals."  * 

How  the  sort  of  talk  here  rebuked  operates  to  weaken 
the  force  of  moral  and  legal  motives  over  the  mind  of  the 
drunkard  himSelf,  has  already  been  sufficiently  indicated. 
The  Temperance  Reformers,  so  far  as  they  are  rational 
beings,  must  have  at  least  some  indistinct  notion  of  it. 
But  that  it  can  have  any  tendency  to  palliate  the  guilt  of 
the  temjyter  to  drunkenness,  they  will  be  surprised  to  be 
told.  The  fact  is,  that  the  ordinary  temperance  declaimer, 
by  the  very  vice  of  his  position  and  dogmas,  is  disqualified 


1.  New  Englandei\  October,  1846.  Article,  "  Shall  Punishment  be  Abolished  f ' 
[The  Article  quoted  was  from  th<i  pen  of  my  father.] 


THE  TEMPERANCE  REFORMATION.  309 

for  adequately  appreciating  the  guilt  of  the  sin  of  seducing 
to  drunkenness.  The  judgment  of  God  and  of  the  healthy 
human  conscience  is  that  if  anything  is  a  crime,  this  more. 
And  this  not  because  the  drunkard  is  a  helpless,  irres- 
ponsible creature,  incapable  of  self-control,  whose 
drunkenness  is  a  misfortune,  not  a  fault — at  least  not  Ms 
fault;  but  just  because  drunkenness  is  itself  a  crime,  and 
the  drunkard  a  free  agent,  able  to  sin  and  able  to  forbear. 
The  crime  of  the  seducer  to  drunkenness  is  not  aggravated, 
it  is  rather  mitigated,  by  describing  the  resistless  passion, 
the  helpless  infatuation,  the  irresponsible  monomania  of 
his  victim.  This  is  the  aggravation  of  his  offense,  that  he 
draws  in  his  victim  to  be  a  willing  and  guilty  accomplice 
in  the  two-fold  crime,  and  loads  the  soul  of  each  with 
something  of  the  guilt  of  both.  If  drunkenness  were  a 
mere  calamity,  and  not  a  sin — if  it  were  only  an  accidental 
ruin  and  disgrace,  falling  on  the  drunkard  and  his  house- 
hold— if  it  were  only  poverty  and  squalor  and  wretchedness 
— if  it  were  only  public  scorn,  and  a  name  cast  out  as  vile 
— if  it  were  only  inflamed  and  blighted  features,  and  a 
diseased  body,  and  premature  decay — if  it  were  only 
parental  anxiety  or  filial  distress,  and  despair  and  bitter- 
ness of  soul  kept  secret — if  it  were  only  bereavement — if 
it  were  only  death — then  the  sin  of  seducing  to  drunkenness 
might  be  ranked  with  crimes  against  property  and  life — 
with  theft  and  swindling  and  incendiarism,  with  arson, 
and  the  obstructing  of  railroad  tracks  and  the  poisoning 
of  wells.  But  since  drunkenness  is  not  only  these  things, 
but  more,  a  wilful  sin  against  Clod — therefore  the  sin  of 
enticing  to  drunkenness  is  brought  besides  into  another 
category,  that  of  sins  against  men's  souls;  and  the  enticera 
themselves,     however     delicate     their     smug     gentility 


310  .THE  TEMPERANCE  REFORMATION. 

however  covered  the  apparatus  of  their  gins  and  snares 
with  the  show  of  respectability^  or  the  pretense  of 
legitimate  and  honorable  business,  are  associated,  in  just 
minds,  with  those  classes  of  criminals  that  excite  not  only 
our  dread,  but  our  detestation  and  disgust,  with  suborners, 
and  pimps,  and  seducers.  The  mark  on  their  foreheads  is 
not  the  mark  of  Cain  who  slew  his  brother,  but  the 
serpent  mark  of  Satan. 

It  is  easy  to  see  that  the  excessive  zeal  of  the  temper- 
ance men  in  seeking  to  aggravate  the  guilt  of  the  tempter 
to  drunkenness,  in  comparison  with  that  of  the  drunkard, 
has  overleaped  itself.  It  is  the  opprobrium  of  the  business 
of  liquor-dealing,  as  commonly  practiced,  that  it  is 
accessory  to  the  crime  of  drunkenness.  Mitigate  and 
palliate  the  principal  crime,  and  you  palliate  the 
accessory. 

We  have  taken  no  pains  to  exhibit  proofs  of  this 
degeneracy  of  the  Temperance  Reformation,  because  the 
facts  are  patent  and  notorious.  If  you  doubt  that  this 
great  reform  has  decayed  at  the  root — has  come  toho'd 
that  the  drunkard  is  a  victim,  not  a  criminal — to  ba 
coddled  in  an  "  Asylum,"  not  punished  in  a  prison ;  that 
that  which  is  secondary  is  primary,  and  that  the  accessory 
is  the  principal ;  that  it  has  degenerated  from  a  sober 
preacher  of  righteousness  and  repentance  to  the  guilty, 
into  a  mere  enforcer  of  novel  and  unsubstantial  dogmas 
on  the  temperate,  and  a  crusader  against  the  existence  of 
temptation  in  the  world — read  thp  back  volumes  of  a 
Temperance  paper.* 

1.  If  any  are  disposed  to  undertake,  tlio  task  proposed  above,  we  would 
recommend,  as  by  far  the  least  scurrilous,  and  anion}?  the  most  amusin«f,  of  those 
sheets,  the  "  Journal  of  the  Amnricm  Temperance  Union.''    If  space  permitted  we 


THK  TEMPERANCE  REFORMATION.  311 

The  course  of  the  discussion  has  brought  us  very  close 
alongside  of  the  subject  of  Temperance  Legislation.  This 
forms  the  very  climax  of  the  Temperance  lleformation  ; 
it  is  the  head  in  which  it  has  "  gone  to  seed,"  and  into 
which,  as  it  has  ripened,  it  has  concentrated  all  its 
characteristic  flavors,  its  bland  or  acrid  humors,  and  its 
supposed  medicinal  virtues.  It  is  here  that  its  whole 
vitality  is  absorbed,  its  blunders  summed  up,  and  its 
failures  illustrated  ;  for  its  successes  have  been  failures, 

and  its  failures  have  been failures  likewise.     Here, 

therefore,  we  may,  very  properly  sum  up  and  conclude 
our  discussion. 

should  be  glad  to  print  a  series  of  elegant  extracts  from  its  files,  to  show  how 
much  rational  entertainment  may  bo  got  from  the  judisious  reading  of  it. 

As  a  specimen  of  the  "evil  communications  which  corrupt  good  morals ''  by 
palliating  the  guilt  of  drunkenness ,  we  beg  attention  to  the  following  letter  from 
an  amiable  rural  minister  in  Connecticut,  lie  is  speaking  of  a  peculiarly  flagrant 
case  of  persistent  and  repeated  debauchery,  complicated  with  an  uncommon 
variety  of  other  public  and  private  crimes.  The  oft'ender  presents  himself  to  the 
Temperance  Union,  so  far  as  appears,  without  a  particle  of  acknowledgment  of 
personal  guilt ;  sets  up  business  without  delay  as  a  teacher  of  public  morals,  and 
a  denouncer  of  the  sin  of  temperate  drinking  and  of  prescribing  alcoholic 
stimulants  as  medicines ;  and  is  received  and  officially  recommended  to  the 
public,  in  this  capacity,  with  no  more  intimation  that  there  has  been  anything 
wrong  in  l)is  career  than  if  he  had  just  recovered  from  an  attack  of  small  pox 
complicated  with  measles  and  whooping-cough  : 

"  Dr. has  addressed  our  people  most  happily.     He  takes  the  true 

Temperance  ground,  Total  Abstinence.  His  experience,  observation  and  know- 
ledge, and  power  as  an  orator  give  to  his  eloquent,  soul-stirring  appeals  a 
marked  eti'cct.  He  has  seen  and  felt  the  evils  of  intemperance  to  the  extent  that 
by  the  grace  of  God  he  is  now  a  sworn  enemy  to  all  that  can  intoxicate— rum, 
wine,  beer,  cider— and  is  arming  himself  fully  to  do  battle  against  the  hydra- 
headed  monster.    You  know  Dr. 's  sad  history.    As  a  minister  we  none  of  us 

now  recognize  him.  Xor  has  he  been  for  years.  He  does  not  pretend  now  to  be 
one.  He  is  a  lawyer,  having  first  studied  law,  and  being,  1  think,  a  member  of 
the  Bar. 

"  You  and  I  feel  for  such  a  man,  of  eminent,  noble  parentage,  of  splendid 
talents,  who  is  now  contending  both  for  self-protection  and  the  safety  of  others. 
I  love  to  help  a  man  in  such  circumstances.  I  have  done  it  before.  If  he  can 
be  reclaimed  and  put  to  service,  and  kept  as  lie  now  is,  and  daily  more  strong 
and  earnest  for  tt^mperance  and  the  cause,  let  him  have  countenance  and 
support." — Amer.  Temp.  Jour.,  Dec,  1863. 

Every  one  familiar  with  the  common  style  of  total-abstinence  writers  and 
speech  makers,  will  recognize  this  entire  absence  of  censure  on  the  "  poor 
victims  "  as  its  constant  characteristic. 


31  2  THE  TEMPERANCE  REFORMATION. 

1.  In  the  "  Maine  Law,"  the  "consummate  flower"  and 
matured  fruit  of  the  Temperance  Reformation,  we  see 
developed,  at  last,  the  reason  of  that  grand  characteristic 
of  the  "  reformers,"  almost  from  the  beginning, — that  they 
have   been  perpetually  busy  in   fussing  over  new  laws 
instead  of  executing  old  ones.    They  have  lacked  tenacity 
of  purpose.     They  have  not  had  the  patient  endurance 
needful  for  a  long  fight  with  sin  ;    and  their  institutions, 
instead  of  being  founded  on  a  rock,  have  been  built  upon 
the  sand.     Vaguely  conscious,  doubtless,  that  their  "time 
was    short,"    they    have    been    in    a    hurry    to    abolish 
intemperance, not  by  establishing  temperance  {iyy.od'.tioL  z= 
self-control)  but  by  exterminating  temptation — forgetful 
that,  by  this  process,  in  the  same  degree  that  they  abolish 
vice,    they   abolish   virtue    also.      Not    only    this,     but 
temptation  must  be  extirpated   with  a  single  stroke  of 
legislation.     They  "  stand  ready  to  smite  once  and  smite 
no  more ;  "  so  the  important  thing  is  to  have  a  law  that 
will  go  of  itself.     The  old  laws  were  pretty  good  laws,  i*^ 
they  had  been  executed.     "  Go  to,  now.     Let  us  build  us^ 
a  law   that   will  not  need   executing.     Public  virtue   is 
expensive.     Let  us  have  a  patent  moral  reform  that  will 
run  without  it." 

2.  Well,  the  «ibsolute  extermination  of  ardent  spirits 
being  resolved  on,  together  with  the  stern  discouragement 
of  fermentation,  the  question  is,  how  to  carry  out  these 
measures  in  the  most  offensive  way  consistent  with  the 
enactment  of  the  law.^  In  some  States,  a  special  provision 

1,  The  suspicion  has  been  seriously  suj;k<  sted  (and  we  understand  that  there 
is  other  than  internal  evidcnec  to  sustain  it)  that,  In  some  States  at  least,  the 
passajfe  of  the  Maine  Law  has  been  due  to  a  coalition  between  the  Abstinence 


THE  TEMPERANCE  REFORMATION.  313 

is  put  in  purposely  to  annoy  and  alienate  the  (Termans  ; 
and  generally,  provisions  for  domiciliary  visitation,  and 
like  measures  abhorrent  to  the  genius  both  of  American 
and  English  law,  are  contrived  for  worrying  those  special 
objects  of  the  detestation  of  the  true  reformer,  the 
^  moderate  (!)  drinker,"  and  the  ^^  respectable  (? )  dealer." 
It  is  slanderously  reported  of  the  Puritan  crusade  against 
the  cruel  amusement  of  bear-baiting,  that  it  was  under- 
taken not  so  much  out  of  pity  toward  the  bear,  as  out  of 
spite  tow^ard  the  people.  There  is  much  stronger  evidence 
of  a  spirit  of  "malignant  philanthropy"  among  the  Maine 
Law  agitators,  than  among  the  Puritans. 

8.  In  the  matter  of  legislation,  as  elsewhere,  the 
Temperance  party  has  followed  its  besetting  lust  of 
classifying  criminal  and  innocent  things  together,  under 
some  generic  name  under  which  the  two  may  be  denounced 
with  the  same  opprobrium,  and  interdicted  by  the  same 
formula  of  law.  It  has  been  willing  thus  to  weaken  the 
force  of  censure  and  the  power  of  law  over  what  is  really 
wrong,  for  the  sake  of  a  good  relishable  insult  and  damage 
to  something  that  is  most  palpably  right. 

"  The  Liquor-traffic  "  is  a  convenient  word.  It  means, 
to  the  popular  ear,  the  keeping  of  "  bars  "  and  "  saloons  "' 
and  tippling  houses.  Who  would  sustain  "  the  Li^juor- 
traffic  ?  "  Who  would  not  vote  to  crush  "  the  Liquor- 
traffic  ? "  By  the  constant  use  of  this  expression  in  an 
evil  sense,  many  a  man  is  led  to  vote  to  punish  "  the  liquor- 
traffic,"  who  means  simply  to  punish  the  infamous  crime 
of  the  seducer  or  accessory  to  drunkenness.  He  discovers, 

and  the  Anti-temperance  parties;  tHe  latter  encouraginf?  and  assisting  the 
former  so  to  ciiciimher  their  bill  with  impracticable  and  intolerable  provision! 
as  to  make  it  inoperative. 


314  THE  TEMPERANCE  REFORMATION. 

by  and  by,  that  he  has  voted  to  put  under  disgrace  and 
penalty,  at  the  same  time,  the  agents  o^'  a  useful  and 
honorable  trade,  without  which  the  ordinary  functions  of 
civilized  society  in  any  community  must  very  soon  become 
disordered  or  suspended.  The  public  mind  loves  a  rapid 
generalization,  and  so  it  is  easier  and  more  popular  to 
preach  or  legislate  against  games  than  against  gambling  ; 
against  lots  than  against  lotteries ;  against  dancing  than 
against  dissipation  ;  against  drinking  than  against 
drunkenness  ;  against  "  the  liquor  traffic  "  than  against 
the  improper  sale  of  liquor.  Cool  argument,  and  fair 
discrimination,  and  iyzpazeioL,  are  no  part  of  the  modern 
idea  of  a  temperance  man. 

4.  The  policy  being  thus  determined,  the  next  thing 
was  for  the  temperance  party  to  burn  the  bridges  behind 
them,  by  adopting  the  principle  that  no  bread  is  better 
than  half  a  loaf,  — the  cry  "  the  whole  or  nothing."  As 
in  previous  movements  it  was  their  delight  to  repel  from, 
cooperation,  and  classify  (in  their  elegant  terminology) 
among  "  the  rummies,"  all  who  refused  to  accept  in  the 
gross  their  dogmas,  ethical,  theological,  physiological  and 
political ;  so  now  every  attempt  to  draw  distinctions  or 
make  exceptions  was  repudiated  as  a  tampering  with  the 
unclean  thing.  The  advocates  of  "  regulation  "  as  opposed 
to  "  prohibition "  were  openly  stigmatized  with  the 
dreadful  reproach  of  being  friends  of  "  the  Liquor-traffic." 
The  whole  cause  was  staked  on  this  experiment.  The 
bills  which  inaugurated  "  prohibition"  contained  sections 
repealing  former  statutes.  They  meant  to  have  one  line  of 
battle  and  no  reserve.  It  was  to  be  everything  or  nothing. 
And  since  it  has  turned  out  to  be  nothing,  there  is  a  much 
more  complacent  acquiescence  in  the  result,  on  the  part  of 


THE  TEMPERANCE  REFORMATION .^  315 

the  Temperance  orj^ans,  than  there  used  to  be  in  the  old 
state  of  affairs,  when  the  liquor  trade  was  in  some  measure 
regulated,  and  its  abuses  in  some  measure  hindered  or 
punished. 

5.  So  far  as  we  know,  the  clamor  of  the  professional 
reformers  and  their  followers  has  not  yet  succeeded  in 
procuring  the  rescission  of  the  laws  providing  pains  and 
penalties  for  the  crime  of  drunkenness.  The  tendency  of 
their  legislative  contrivances  towards  such  an  end,  how- 
ever, is  unmistakable.  It  is  a  leading  feature  of  the  "  Maine 
Law,"  that  it  deals  with  drunkenness  as  accessory  to 
liquor-selling, — not  with  liquor-selling  as  accessory  to 
drunkenness.  The  drunkard  is  to  be  arrested  and 
imprisoned,  but  is  to  be  released  at  once  on  his  turning 
State's  evidence  against  his  principal.^ 

The  main  influence,  however,  of  the  Temperance 
Keformation  in  preventing  the  punishment  of  the  crime  of 
drunkenness,  has  been  (as  we  have  elsewhere  indicated) 
in  drawing  disproportionate  attention  to  the  fact  of 
temptation,  and  in  engendering  a  morbid  sympathy  with 
the  criminal. 

What  then  is  the  condition  of  laws  to  which  we  are 
"brought,  wherever  the  Temperance  faction  is  politically 
successful  ? 

This,   nominally  :    that  all  ordinary  trade  in  distilled 

1.  This  provision  formed  no  part,  we  believe,  of  the  orij>inal  law  enacted  in 
Maine  in  13")!,  but  was  introduced  in  other  States  in  the  following-  year,  and  is 
now  part  of  the  idea  of  a  prohibitory  law. 

We  would  suggest  that  if  this  provision  were  reversed  it  would  be  brought 
into  better  accordance  with  the  common  sense  of  justico : — that  is,  if  it  were 
provided  that  the  dealer  in  intoxicating  drinks  should  be  released  from  penalty 
on  condition  of  his  testifying  against  those  who  had  abused  the  liquors 
purcliased  of  him,  to  purposes  of  intoxication. 


316  THE  TEMPERANCE  REFORMATION. 

and  fermented  liquors  is  prohibited  as  a  crime,  the  limited 
sale  of  the  same,  for  certain  specified  uses,  being  assumed 
by  the  Government  through  its  agents.  Drunkenness  and 
moderate  drinking  are  abolished. 

Actually,  this  :  the  laws  punishing  drunkenness  are 
disused  or  repealed :  the  restrictions  upon  the  sale  of 
liquors  are  done  away  ;  the  crime  of  keeping  common 
tippling  houses  is  elevated  by  public  enactment  to  the 
same  level  of  respectability  with  the  business  of  the 
apothecary,  or  with  any  other  honorable  and  useful  trade  in 
liquors  ;  the  contrivance  of  the  abstinence-party  stands  on 
the  statute-book,  that  demoralizing  and  disloyalizing; 
thing,  a  dead  letter ;  and  the  reformers  themselves,  when- 
ever the  exigencies  of  civilized  life,  and  the  obstinate 
laws  of  health  and  disease  come  athwart  their  favorite 
theories,  are  habitually  violating  the  very  statute  which 
they  themselves  have  contrived.  -— ^ 

This  is  the  situation. 


Looking  over  the  course  of  our  discussion,  we  are 
unwilling  to  leave  it  in  this  entirely  negative  form.  It  is 
an  ungracious  thing  to  stand  in  the  position  of  mere 
objectors  to  the  efforts  of  well-intending  people  toward* 
a  good  end  ;  and  we  are  not  mere  objectors.  This  critical 
review  of  a  great  and  sad  failure  has  been  undertaken  by 
us,  not  out  of  cynical  moroseness,  nor  out  of  mere 
historical  curiosity,  but  with  the  conviction  that  such  a 
review  must  be  the  only  safe  basis  of  a  future  Temperance 


THE  TEMPERANCE  REFORMATION.  317 

Reformation,  which  shall  be  a  reformation  indeed.  The 
question  on  which  we  have  meant  that  every  page  should 
have  a  bearing,  is  this  :  What  shall  be  done  in  future  ? 
It  is  impossible  that  we  should  have  any  interest  in  this 
labor  but  truth  and  humanity.  Certainly  popularity  and 
peace  do  not  lie  this  waj'' — nothing  but  organized 
tinnoyance  from  either  party,  and  the  scourge  of  tongues. 
Probably  the  abstinence-men,  in  their  chaste  style  of 
controversy,  will  insinuate  that  we  have  written  in  the 
interest  of  the  Liquor-dealers'  Association.  They  might 
save  their  evil  words.  It  is  impossible  that  shrewd 
liquor-dealers  can  desire  any  more  convenient  state  of 
things  than  this  which  the  Temperance  men  have  prepared 
to  their  hands. 

But  what  shall  we  do  ?  The  men  under  whose  pilotage 
the  temperance  reform  has  been  wrecked  are  not  more 
free  in  acknowledging  that  all  their  work  is  to  be  done 
anew,  than  they  are  prompt  in  proposing  the  next 
measure,  to  wit,  to  do  the  same  thing  over  again  ; — to 
start  from  the  same  point,  on  the  same  course,  and  see 
whether  or  not  they  will  split  on  the  same  rock.^    Surely 

1.  See  an  article  by  the  Rev.  T.  li.  Ciiyler,  iu  The  Independent  of  September  or 
October  last,  entitled  "-^1  Plain  Word  with  Temperance  Men." 

See  also  a  recent  pamplct  entitled  "  The  Temperance  Cause,  or,  Why  we  are 
where  we  are.    By  Charles  Jewett,  M.  D." 

The  remarks  and  plans  of  these  and  other  old-line  temperance  reformers 
indicate  a  conviction  on  their  part  that  a  chronic  ajjilation  on  the  temperance 
question  is  the  normal  condition  of  society  ;  that  every  village  and  ward  should 
have  its  regular  weeklj  or  monthly  temperanec  mftctin<i:,  with  the  public 
administration  of  its  saeramcnial  pledj-e  of  withliolding  the  cup  from  the  laity; 
tliat  the  temperauce  society  and  the  temperance  lecturer  are  required  by  the 
constant  wants  of  human  nahirc,  like  the  church  and  the  ministry.  Indeed,  the 
one  prescription  l)y  Wiiich  Dr.  Jewett  would  heal  all  the  inlirmities  and  renew 
the  youth  of  the  moribund  Reformation  is— a  provision  for  a  regular  income  out 
of  which  to  pay  tlie  salaries  of  himself  and  his  fellow  laborers  ! 


318  THE  TEMPERANCE  REFORMATION. 

this  recommendation  does  not  require  prolonged  con- 
sideration. 

The  answer  which  we  would  give  to  this  practical 
question  may  be  guessed  from  what  has  gone  before  ;  but 
it  is  well  to  sum  it  up  in  a  few  paragraphs. 

1.  Let  future  efforts  be  settled  on  acknowledged 
principles  of  right  and  wrong,  and  on  admitted  and  incon- 
testable facts.  Whatever  may  be  the  confidence  of 
individuals  in  certain  hypotheses  in  organic  chemistry  or 
physiology,  or  in  certain  novel  points  of  scriptural  inter- 
pretation or  casuistry,  let  the  reformation  henceforth 
proceed  upon  principles  and  facts  in  which  good  men  and 
candid  men  are  agreed  ;  not  on  those  which  the  majority 
of  good  men,  the  world  over,  reject.  Thus  much  being 
determined,  there  will  be  less  temptation  to  the  agents  of 
this  reform  to  deal  in  feeble  arguments,  in  fanciful 
theories,  in  exaggerated  statements,  and  in  garbled  and 
one-sided  citations,  than  there  now  is  ;  and  the  existing 
necessity  for  opprobrium  upon  those  who  hold  the  common 
opinions  of  Christendom  will  be  removed.* 

Having  got  back  thus  upon  a  basis  of  facts,  the 
Temperance  Reformers  would,  it  is  hoped,  begin  to  see 


1.  For  a  fVank  statement  *ancl  striking- examplo,  of  the  poUcy  of  the  Temper- 
ance r(^formation  in  this  matter,  see  the  following?  from  the  Journal  of  the  Am. 
Temp.  Union,  for  December,  18(j3:— "  We  have  our  fears  that  tliere  is  no  adequate 
conception  of  the  extent  of  liostility  in  ministers  at  tlie  altar  and  comnuinieants 
at  the  table  of  Christ,  to  the  strict  total  abstinence  principle,  of  the  derision  that 
is  made  of  it  in  family  and  even  in  ministerial  circles,  and  of  unbelief  in  it  as 
scriptural.  The  arj^unicnt  in  its  favor,  however,  is  so  perfect  that  all  opposition 
to  it  is  silenced.  Many  prefer  to  let  total  abstainers  have  their  way  than  contend 
with  them,  especially  when,  in  so  doiiuj,  they  expose  themselves  to  opprobrium  ; 
and  as  no  Maine  law  forbids  their  gaining;  access  to  the  means  of  iudiUgence,  and 
no  civil  or  ecclesiastical  law  forbids  such  indulgence,  and  the  circles  of  fashion 
in  which  they  ever  move  without  reproaeli  or  any  difBdence,  are  suflieiently 
larjfc  and  very  inviting,  they  are  satisfied." 


THE  TEMPERANCE  REFORMATION.  319 

things  truly  and  proportionately.  They  would  see^ 
especially,  that  the  iwiniary  object  of  their  opposition  is 
drunkenness  ;  and  would  not,  as  heretofore,  forget  or 
justify  the  primary  thing  in  their  zeal  concerning  the 
accessories. 

2.  In  dealing  with  the  sin  and  disgrace  of  drunkenness, 
let  the  main  reliance  be  upon  motives  and  means  worthy, 
and  adequate,  and  abiding.  When  the  devil  of  intemper- 
ance has  been  joked  out,  or  wheedled  out,  or  juggled  out, 
or  scared  out,  or  coaxed  out  of  a  man,  he  does  not  wander 
long  in  dry  places  without  rest.  It  will  be  as  easy  for 
him  to  be  coaxed,  or  scared,  or  juggled,  or  wheedled  back 
again.  And  it  will  go  hard  with  him,  but  he  will  take 
back  to  his  empty  room  some  worse  devils  than  himself. 
When  intemperance  is  driven  out  by  the  "  expulsive 
force  "  of  another  and  over-mastering  selfish  passion,  as 
avarice,  or  ambition,  it  may  be  a  more  permanent  change, 
and  in  its  social  aspects  a  beneficial  one ;  but  after  all,  it 
is  only  a  casting  out  of  devils  by  Beelzebub.  The  motives 
to  be  mainly  used  must  be  the  sovereign  and  infinite 
considerations  of  the  Christian  religion ;  the  effective 
power  that  must  be  relied  on  is  the  power  of  God  ;  and 
(^let  us  add)  instead  of  futile  pledges,  and  evanescent 
societies,  and  childish  "  orders  "  and  "  lodges^"  should  be 
substituted  the  sacraments  and  the  enduring  institution  of 
the  Christian  church. 

8.  In  the  application  of  legal  measures  to  the  work  of 
temperance  reform,  it  is  needful,  still,  to  keep  in  mind 
what  is  the  primary  object  of  the  reformation, — the 
prevention  of  the  sin  of  drunkenness.  To  be  prevented,, 
it  must  be  punished  ;  and  this  is  the  obvious,  natural, 
effective  course  which  the   Temperance  Reformers  have 


320  THE  TEMPERANCE  REFORMATION. 

never  adopted^  but  have  steadily  more  and  more  dis- 
couraged. 

We  can  easil/  anticipate  the  fondness  with  which  the 
abstinence  men  will  linger  over  their  feeble  objections  to 
the  cruelty  of  punishing  the  "poor  victim/'  and  the 
reluctance  with  which  they  will  part  with  them,  before 
they  come  back  to  the  position  of  common  sense,  that  the 
best  way  to  discourage  a  crime  is  not  to  excuse  its  guilt 
and  remove  its  penalties.  And  it  is  worth  while  to 
anticipate  the  answers  with  which  these  objections  must 
be  met. 

"  The  drunkard — the  x>007'  drunkard — is  not  the  worst 
sinner  in  the  case.  Poor  man  !  he  is  'beguiled  by  the  evil 
influence  of  others.  The  tempter  is  a  worse  siuner  than 
the  drunkard.     Punish  the  tempter." 

Certainly,  if  you  say  so,  punish  the  tempter.  But  why 
not  punish  the  criminal  too  ? 

(1.)  Suppose  that  you  are  right,  and  that  the  drunkard 
is  not  so  great  a  sinner.  Will  you  refrain  from  punishing 
one  criminal  until  you  have  measured  off  and  inflicted  a 
proportionate  allotment  of  penalty  on  all  his  superiors  in 
guilt?  If  this  must  be,  then  human  government  may  as 
well  be  aband(ined ;  for  all  criminal  legislation  and 
administration  has  to  proceed  with  the  expectation  that 
it  will  leave  untouched  many  worse  men  than  it  punishes. 
There  always  are,  and  always  will  be,  worse  rogues  out 
of  prison  than  in  it.  Defaulters  and  swindlers  will  ride 
in  carriages,  while  pickpockets  travel  on  the  treadmill. 
But  is  this  a  good  reason  for  not  punishing  pickpockets? 

(2.)  Suppose  that  the  tempter  is  a  guiltier  sinner  than 
tlie  other  party,  he  is  not  guilty  of  the  same  sin.  The  guilt 
of  the  receiver  of  st^jlen  goods  is    v^ery  commonly  greater 


THE  TEMPERANCE  REFORMATION.  321 

than  that  of  the  burglar,  but  it  is  not  burglary.  The 
suborner  to  perjury  is  doubtless  a  worse  man,  often,  than 
the  perjurer.  But  was  it  ever  held,  in  any  legislature, 
that  the  existence  of  severe  enactments  against  suborna- 
tion was  a  good  reason  for  letting  the  perjurer  go  free  ? 

(3.)  All  these  discussions  of  the  comparative  degree  of 
guilt  of  accomplices  in  crime,  are  of  doubtful  profit.  But 
if  we  were  disposed  to  defend  the  case  of  the  shopkeeper 
as  against  his  customer,  there  is  a  good  deal  to  be  said  on 
his  side  of  the  question.  The  whole  question  depends  on 
circumstances.  It  depends  partly  on  the  comparative 
intelligence  of  the  parties.  If  the  drunkard  is  an 
intelligent  American  citizen,  trained  in  the  church,  the 
religious  family  and  the  common  school,  to  a  knowledge 
of  his  duty,  and  the  vender  is  an  illiterate  and  outcast 
negro,  or  an  Irishman  that  never  heard  of  Father  Mathew, 
and  knows  nothing  of  the  Temperance  cause,  except  that 
he  has  been  told  by  an  eminent  citizen  to  vote  against 
the  Maine  law,  the  chances  are  that  the  guiltier  party  is 
the  drunkard  himself.  It  depends  partly  on  their  know- 
ledge of  the  consequences  of  their  respective  acts.  The 
drunkard  cannot  but  know  the  ruin  he  is  bringing  thereby 
on  himself,  and  on  his  family,  and  on  society  ;  the  seller 
doesn't  need  to  know — doesn't  want  to  know — takes 
pains  not  to  know,  nor  think.  It  depends  partly  on  the 
motives  of  the  parties.  The  seller  may  be  moved  by  the 
necessity  of  daily  bread  for  himself  and  for  his  house- 
hold ;  the  drunkard  can  have  no  motive  but  the  mere 
gratification  of  a  selfish  passion,  reckless  of  the  misery 
which  he  inflicts  upon  those  whom  he  ought  to  love  most 
dearly. 

(4.)   But  inasmuch  as  it  is  too  much  to  hope  that  the 


322  THE  TEMPERANCE  REFORMATION. 

fallacies  that  are  bound  up  in  the  hearts  of  old  professional 
'^reformers"  will  ever  be  driven  out  by  counter-argument, 
it  may  be  well  enough  to  help  them  complete  the  circle  of 
their  vicious  reasoning,  and  thus  get  back  to  their  point 
of  departure.  If  the  crime  of  tempting  to  drunkenness  is 
so  odious  as  to  have  become  the  exclusive  object  of  public 
vengeance,  what  shall  we  say  of  the  guilt  of  those  who 
deliberately  tempt  their  neighbor  into  the  crime  of  liquor- 
selling  ?  If  the  drunkard  cannot  be  punished  for 
debauchery,  because  he  is  a  "  poor  victim,"  is  not  the 
grog-seller  a  "  poor  victim "  too  ?  and  may  we  not, 
peradventnre,  punish  the  wretch  who  deliberately  and 
repeatedly  approaches  his  neighbor  with  sixpences  and 
shillings,  to  awaken  within  him  the  "  accursed  greed  of 
gold,"  and  lure  him  on  to  the  crime  of  liquor-dealing  ? 

But  "the  poor  drunkard!"  He  is  not  to  be  easily 
mulcted  or  imprisoned  "  without  the  meed  of  some 
melodious  tear"  from  his  temperance  friends.  Don't  punish 
the  poor  drunkard  !  his  passions  are  so  strong,  and  his 
power  of  resistance  so  weak.  Punish  somebody  else;  do! " 
They  adopt  the  foolish  fallacy,  which  is  a  good  deal 
broader  than  the  Temperance  Reformation, — so  broad  that 
it  under-runs  a  great  deal  of  general  legislation  .and  law 
logic, — the  fallacy  that  the  weaker  a  man's  will  and  the 
wilder  his  passions,  the  less  he  needs  the  control  of  law. 
If  drunkenness  is  a  mere  disease  (as  reformed  drunkards 
are  fain  to  insinuate), — if  will  and  conscience  have 
absolutely  no  concern  with  it,  why  there  is  no  more  to  be 
said  nor  done  but  to  send  the  patients  to  a  hospital  and 
physic  it  out  of  them.  But  the  reformed  drunkards  them- 
selves who  suggest  the  idea  are  a  living  refutation  of  it. 
The  fact  that  they  do  abstain  shows  that  they  might  have 


THE  TEMPERANCE  REFORMATION.  323 

abstained  before.  Tbe}^  are  a  living  proof  that  the  treat- 
ment which  their  '^  disease  "  needed  was  the  most  heroic 
moral  treatment, — the  plainest  exhibition  of  their 
criminality,  and  the  kindest  encouragement  to  reform, 
mingled  with  warnings,  not  to  be  trifled  with,  of  the  most 
stern  and  inexorable  punishment  in  case  of  persistence  in 
crime.  The  kindest  thing  for  the  weak  and  irresolute,  and 
"  morally  insane,"  is  to  stiffen  their  moral  nature  with 
the  strength  of  law.  The  cruel  and  fatal  thing  is  to  remove 
from  them  alike  the  fear  of  punishment  and  the  hope  of 
amendment,  and,  by  telling  them  that  they  are  impotent 
and  helpless,  to  make  them  so.  And  this  is  what  the 
Temperance  Reformation  has  done.  ^ 

4.  In  applying  legal  measures  to  the  matter  of  liquor- 
selling,  let  the  new  Temperance  Reformation  still 
remember  that  it  is  only  as  accessory  to  the  crime  of 
drunkenness,  in  a  nearer  or  more  remote  degree,  that  the 
liquor  trade  becomes  properly  amenable  to  the  criminal 
law.  It  will  thus  avoid  the  mischievous  confounding  of 
right  and  wrong,  which  has  been  wont  hitherto  to  frustrate 
both  argument  and  law.  It  will  be,  not  "  the  liquor 
traffic,"  both  right   and  wrong,   useful  and   mischievous, 

1.  We  have  no  intention,  in  anythin;?  we  have  here  or  elsewhere  sai  ,  of  dis- 
para^inff  the  Inebriate  Asylums  in  their  proper  use  ;  nor  of  disj?uising  the  fact 
that  tin;  thirst  fur  intoxicating- li(iuors  docs  sometimes  grow  to  such  a  morbid 
intensity  tliat  the  best  and  wisest  thing  for  the  snlyect  of  it  may  be,  for  a  time,  to 
seclude  him  from  the  possibility  of  indulging  it.  But  when  exceptional  cases  of 
so-called  "moral  insanity"  are  taken  as  the  basis  of  public  reform  or  legislation, 
or  when  the  principle  is  accepted  that  people  generally  are  more  or  less  insane, 
"^rid  therefore  irresponsible,  it  is  time  for  the  sane  people  to  look  out  for  tliem- 
selves. 

In  every  well-regulated  mad-house  a  stringent  system  of  rewards  and  punish- 
ments is  deemed  essential,  and  is  found  to  be  effective.  If  society  generally  is 
full  of  maniacs,  liable  constantly  to  acute  attacks  of  criminal  impulse,  is  it  good 
"  treatment  "  to  inform  them,  through  legislative  acts,  and  Jury  verdicts,  and 
judicial  charges,  that  if  they  misbehave  they  shall  not  be  hurt  for  it  V 


324  THE  TEMPERANCE  REFORMATION. 

which  it  will  be  attempted  to  crush,  but  the  wicked  and 
hurtful  traffic  in  liquor.  To  come  more  to  matters  of 
detail,  the  coming  Reformation  must  keep  in  mind,  in  all 
its  restrictions  on  trade  : 

(1.)  That  the  Christian  law  of  liberty  and  love,  under 
which  a  good  man  waives  his  lawful  privileges  for  the 
benefit  of  weak  consciences,  cannot  be  enforced  hy  act  of 
legislature  or  church,  nor  by  edicts  of  the  Temperance 
and  Tract  Societies.  The  moment  you  enforce  it  you 
kill  it. 

(2.)  That  there  are  some  things  that  "  the  law  cannot 
do,  in  that  it  is  weak  through  the  flesh  ;  "  and  that  when 
the  law  has  suppressed  the  evil  which  it  can  conveniently 
reach  it  has  not  thereby  sanctione<l  the  offences  which  it 
cannot  reach. 

Look  now  at  the  trade  in  those  articles  that  are  liable 
to  be  perverted  into  the  means  of  intoxication.  It  may  be 
classified,  for  the  present  purpose,  in  three  categories, 
according  to  the  guilt  or  innocence  of  the  dealer : 

(1.)  Those  sales  which  are  plainly  right. 

(2.)  Those  sales  which,  by  their  probable  consequences, 
are  obviously  wrong. 

(3.)  Those  sales  the  consequences  of  which  are  doubtful* 

As  for  the  first  class  of  dealings  in  liquor,  a  wise  and 
good  law  will  be  studiously  careful  to  interfere  with  them 
as  little  as  possible.  If  it  were  a  mere  matter  ol  personal 
liberty  of  the  "  pursuit  of  happiness"  through  an  innocent 
calling,  this  course  would  be  required  by  the  spirit  of  our 
constitutions.  But  this  part  of  "  the  liquor  traffic  "  is 
not  merely  innocent,  it  is  beneficent, — it  is  necessary. 
And  what  an  intolerable  annoyance  to  the  public  as  well 


THE  TEMPERANCE  REFORMATION.  325 

as  to  individuals  is  the  interdiction  of  it  or  the  confine- 
ment of  it  to  a  government  monopoly,  is  witnessed  by  the 
general  disregard  of  the  "  Maine  Law,"  even  in  the  most 
law-abiding  communities  and  by  the  best  citizens. 

As  for  the  second  class  of  dealings,  they  must  be 
prevented  and  punished  just  so  far  as  they  can  be  defined 
and  reached  by  legislation.  And  this  is  what  the  old 
laws,  which  have  been  denounced  with  so  much  contumely, 
were  honestly  careful  to  do.  They  forbade  tippling- 
houses,  high  and  low,  great  and  small ;  they  interdicted 
Sunday  liquor-selling;  and  they  prohibited  all  sales  of 
liquor  to  minors,  to  apprentices  and  students,  and  to 
common  drunkards,  as  being  sales  evidently  liable  to  be 
turned  to  an  evil  use.  And  these  prohibitions  commended 
themselves  to  every  conscience  as  wise  and  right.  ^ 

"  But  is  this  all  that  we  can  do  ?  " 

Well,  suppose  you  try  to  do  this  first,  before  you  ask. 
What  next  ?  This  is  more  than  you  are  doing  now,  or 
have  ever  been  able  to  do  heretofore,  for  any  considerable 
extent  of  time  or  space,  by  prohibitory  laws.  Try  this 
first. 

The  measures  we  have  described  are  such  as  will  unite 
'the  cooperation  of  the  mass  of  society,  both  of  good  men 
and  of  bad.  For  society  and  government,  in  the  main,  are 
always   on  the   side   of  sound  morals.     Even   under  the 

1.  The  perpetual  protest  of  the  temperance  orators  against  the  prohibition  of 
the  sale  of  liquor  to  drunkards,  illustrates  a  great  many  of  our  positions  at  once. 
The  rciason  for  this  prohibition  in  the  oUl  laws  was  not  that  the  sale  of  liquor  to 
temperate  men  m^lit  not  sometimes  be  more  hurtful  than  the  sale  of  it  to 
drunkards,  but  tliat  tlie  latter  might  confidently  be  presumed  to  have  a  bad 
result;  while,  as  to  the  former,  the  presumption,  in  individual  eases,  was 
uncertain. 

The  old  laws  of  some  of  tin;  Puritan  colonies  on  this  subject — Blue  Laws,  if 
you  like  to  call  them  so — were  models  of  wise,  humane  legislation,  which  the 
reformers  who  sneer  at  them  would  do  well  to  studv. 


326  THE  TEMPERANCE  REFORMATION. 

corrupt  despotism  of  Nero,  the  magistrate  was  on  the 
whole  a  terror  to  evil  doers  and  a  praise  to  those  that  did 
well.  The  only  way  of  effectively  protecting  from  public 
justice  the  evident  sin  of  the  enticer  to  drunkenness,  is  the 
way  adopted  by  the  Temperance  Reformation,  of 
perplexing  and  bewildering  the  public  mind  by  confounding 
this  evident  sin  with  other  things,  which  are  as  evidently 
innocent  and  honorable. 

These  two  classes  of  dealings  in  intoxicating  liquors 
having  been  disposed  of,  the  question  will  still  remain  : 
What  shall  be  done  respecting  that  third  class,  lying  on 
the  doubtful  ground  between  the  two  ?  Into  the  large 
discussion  of  this  question  we  shall  not  enter  here.  We 
will  venture  only  one  suggestion.  If,  with  regard  to 
these,  the  state  should  conclude  that  much  needs  be  left 
to  the  discretion  of  the  dealer,  that  therefore  the  dealer 
ought  to  be  a  person  of  special  prudence,  and  that  the 
ordinary  trade  in  intoxicating  liquors  ought  not 
to  be  left  open  indiscriminately  to  all ;  and  if  the  state, 
accordingly,  should  enact  that  none  should  engage  in  it 
without  the  special  permission  of  the  authorities,  nor 
without  binding  themselves  from  the  abuse  of  the  trust, — 
the  state  would  i!ot,  by  such  provisions,  be  sanctioning  a 
crime,  nor  making  itself  responsible  for  abuses  which  it 
had  labored  to  prevent. 


THE  OPPROBRIUM  0¥  ENGLISH  LAW.  327 


XV. 


THE    OPPROBRIUM    OF    ENGLISH    LAW 


A   SERMON  AGAINST    THE   PUBLIC  CRIME  OF  THE  DERELICTION 
OF  LEGISLATION  FOR  THE  PROTECTION  OF  THE  FAMILY.^ 


"  He  that  judgeth  his  brother,  judgeth  the  law."     James,  iv,  11 

For  a  week  past  the  whole  State  of  Maryland  has  been 
witnessing,  through  the  newspapers,  a  capital  trial  of 
extraordinary  interest  and  of  very  peculiar  character.  A 
young  homicide  is  on  trial  for  his  life.  A  jury  is  empanelled 
and  sworn  to  render  a  verdict  according  to  law  and  facts. 
The  instructions  of  the  Bench  and  its  rulings  on  questions 
of  evidence  are  faithfully  conformed  to  the  accepted 
principles  of  evidence  and  of  law  so  as  to  confine  the 
investigation  to  the  one  question  of  the  prisoner's  innocence 

1.  Preaclied  in  Baltimore,  Sunday  evening?,  April  23,  1871.  The  substance  of 
the  argument  had  previously  been  delivered  and  published,  on  a  like  occasion, 
in  New  Vork. 


328  THE  OPPROBRIUM  OF  ENGLISH  LAW. 

or  guilt.  The  course  of  counsel  for  the  prosecution  and 
for  the  defence  is  ostensibly  directed  to  the  same  end — 
the  State  attempting  to  establish  the  fact  of  homicide, 
with  its  implication  of  malice ;  the  traverser  making  a 
show  of  proving :  first,  that  the  act  was  done  in  self- 
defence  ;  and,  secondly,  that  it  was  done  in  a  moment  of 
irresponsible  insanity. 

All  this  is  plain  and  straightforward  enough.  All  this, 
if  such  offences  must  needs  come,  is  very  right  and  honor- 
able to  the  administration  of  justice  in  the  State.  But  as 
we  observe  the  progress  of  the  trial,  it  becomes  perfectly 
obvious,  even  to  a  stranger,  that  the  real  defence  is  one 
which  it  is  forbidden  to  introduce,  and  which,  neverthe- 
less, is  introduced  :  which  it  is  forbidden  to  rebut,  and 
which,  nevertheless,  is  rebutted  by  the  prosecution  ;  which 
the  jury  are  sworn  not  to  take  into  consideration,  and 
which,  nevertheless,  they  are  universally  expected  to 
consider,  and  unanimously  do  consider,  and  on  which  with 
what  is  commonly  'accepted  as  a  sort  of  pious  perjury, 
amid  the  irrepressible  applauses  of  the  crowd,  they  render 
their  verdict.  It  is  clearly  enough  not  the  manslayer  who 
is  on  trial,  but  the  man  slain.  The  defence  of  the  homicide 
in  the  forum  of  public  opinion,  the  real  defence  of  it — not 
the  legal  fiction  *of  a  defence — in  the  criminal  court  is 
that  the  victim  had  been  guilty  of  seduction — the  crime  of 
seduction  I  was  about  to  say  :  but  seduction  is  no  crime 
under  Maryland  law.  The  Court  are  trying  not  an 
assassin,  but  a  dead  man,  and  an  absent  woman.  The  sham 
defence  of  the  prisoner  at  the  bar  is  only  set  up  to  be 
dropped  again. 

The  jury  having  considered  the  case  of  the  corpse,  bring 
in  a  speedy  verdict  of  served  him  rights  and  the  prisoner 


THE  OPPROBRIUM  OF  ENGLISH  LAW.  329 

at  the  bar,  being  acquitted  on  the  pretext  of  his  having 
been  a  temporary  maniac,  or  of  his  having  been  assaulted 
with  deadly  weapons  and  forced  into  an  unwilling  homi- 
cide, instead  of  being  tenderly  committed  to  the  charge  of 
physicians  or  condoled  with  for  the  painful  accident  that 
had  befallen  him,  is  hailed  with  shouts  and  cheers,  and 
carried  aloft  on  the  shoulders  of  the  crowd  as  a  hero,  a 
deliverer  of  society  from  the  presence  of  a  criminal  so 
heinous  that  it  is  not  fit  that  he  should  live. 

A  case  of  peculiar  character  I  have  called  this.  It 
belongs  to  a  peculiar  class,  but  in  its  class  there  is  nothing 
peculiar  in  it  at  all.  It  varies  in  names,  and  scene,  and 
circumstances,  but  in  no  essential  respect,  from  the  general 
course  of  judicial  dealing  in  many  of  the  United  States 
with  cases  of  the  assassination  of  seducers  and  adulterers. 
This  fact  is  supposed  to  mark,  and  really  does  mark,  the 
abhorrence  of  the  people  of  those  States  for  the  crimes 
that  provoked  the  bloody  deed. 

But  pause  a  moment.  What  is  the  measure  of  the 
abhorrence  of  these  States  towards  crimes  against  domestic 
purity  and  honor  ?  Suppose  that  the  accusation  uttered  by 
the  lips  of  the  y<mng  assassin  over  the  body  of  his  victim 
writhing  in  the  death-agony  were  true  without  qualifica- 
tion or  mitigation :  suppose  the  latter  was  the  shameless 
seducer  he  is  declared  to  be,  wherein  has  he  off'ended 
against  the  State  V  What  crime  has  he  committed  ? 
Search  the  statute  book  and  see  !  It  is  not  named  upon 
it.  Look  through  the  criminal  code.  For  any  hint  which 
the  people  of  Maryland  have  ever  given  in  any  form  of 
law  as  to  the  heinousness  of  his  act,  the  seducer  jnay  stand 
before  the  whole  connnunity,  may  sit  with  the  wisest  and 
most  honored  of  her  counsellors  in  high  seats  of  dignity,  a 


330  THE  OPPROBRIUM  OF  ENGLISH  LAW. 

blameless  man.  If  he  could  be  convicted  of  the  deed  under 
even'  imaginable  aggravation,  it  would  subject  him  to  no 
penalty,  it  would  disqualify  him  from  no  honor  or 
emolument  in  the  people's  gift.  But  he  cannot  be  convicted 
of  seduction,  for  that  crime  is  not  named  as  a  crime  in  the 
laws  of  this  Commonwealth.  There  is  provision,  indeed, 
for  civil  process  by  which  any  differences  arising  between 
man  and  man  on  account  of  it  may  be  adjusted  by  an 
assessment  of  damages,  but  nothing  more. 

And  now  is  not  your  public  sentiment  a  little  absurd 
which  roars  so  fiercely  around  the  steps  of  the  seducer, 
putting  a  Cain's  mark  upon  him  "  that  every  one  that 
findeth  him  may  slay  him,"  defending  the  murder  of  him 
by  the  authority  of  judicial  precedents,  on  the  ground  that 
he  is  a  criminal  so  flagitious  that  it  is  not  fit  that  he 
should  live,  and  yet  when  you  are  asked  to  name  the 
crime  of  which  he  is  guilty,  you  are  at  a  non-plus,  and 
search  the  statute-book  and  criminal  code  and  digest  of 
decisions  from  title-page  to  tail-piece  in  vain.  Plainly 
either  public  sentiment  is  wrong,  or  the  laws  are  wrong. 
If  the  honorable  instinct  which  rises  to  vindicate  the 
violated  sanctity  of  the  family  is  not  a  depraved  and 
malignant  passion — if  the  loathing  .with  which  society 
yearns  and  retches  to  vomit  out  the  adulterer  is  not 
merely  a  morbid  squeamishness — if  the  worthy  indignation 
which  burns  against  him  in  the  breasts  of  honest  men,  and 
seethes  in  the  public  heart  on  any  flagrant  occasion  until 
it  endangers  the  barriers  of  public  order,  is  not  a  whim- 
sical and  mock-chivalrous  notion,  then  the  law  of  this 
State  is  an  insult  to  the  law  which  (iod  has  written  in  his 
Word  and  on  the  heart  of  every  man. 

That  which  is  true  concerning  the  sin  of  seduction,  is 


THE  OPPROBRIUM  OF  ENGLISH  LAW.  331 

also  true  concerning  the  graver,  more  definable  and 
cognizable  sin  of  adultery.  In  most  nations,  civilized 
or  barbarous,  the  crime  against  the  sanctity  of  the  family 
has  been  counted  among  flagitious  felonies.  Commonly 
the  fit  penalty  measured  out  to  it  has  been  the  penalty  of 
death.  There  are  exceptional  States  in  our  Union  in 
which  adultery  is  still  recognized  as  a  crime  and  punished 
with  grave  and  infamous  penalties.  Such  is  the  State  of 
Louisiana,  whose  penal  law  is  modelled  upon  the  Code 
NaxJoUon.  Such  are  those  States  of  the  northernmost 
zone  whose  traditions  of  law  have  been  affected  by  that 
wisest  and  most  splendid  stroke  of  juridical  reform  in 
modern  history,  by  which  the  Puritan  colonies  of  New 
England  cast  behind  them  into  the  ocean  the  whole  body 
of  English  traditions  and  statutes,  both  secular  and 
ecclesiastical,  and  reverted  to  the  divine  model  of  legisla- 
tion in  the  code  of  Moses  as  the  pattern  according  to  which 
their  jurisprudence  should  be  framed.^  But  concerning  the 

1.  The  sag^acious  act  of  the  New  Haven  colonists  by  which  they  determined 
that  the  Code  of  their  infant  republic  should  be  that  contained  in  the  books  of 
Moses,  so  far  as  this  was  neither  local  nor  ceremonial,  until  the  colonists  should 
have  time  to  apply  the  principles  of  the  same  in  laws  more  exactly  suited  to 
their  circumstances — has  been  travestied  in  "  Knickerbocker's  Histor}'  "  as  a 
resolution  "to  be  governed  by  the  laws  of  God  until  they  could  make  better  for 
themselves."  And  it  has  been  both  ignorantly  and  malignantly  denounced  as 
the  act  of  narrow-minded  fanatics  going  back  from  the  attainments  of  Christian 
civilization  to  a  barbarous  and  sanguinary  code  which  the  world  had  long  out- 
grown. It  is  the  highest  possible  vindication  both  of  the  character  of  the  Puritan 
colonists,  and  of  the  divine  wisdom  of  the  Mosaic  law,  to  compare  the  code  of 
New  Haven  colony  as  provisionally  fixed  by  that  act,  with  any  code  then 
existing  in  Europe,  and  especially  with  the  whole  complex  system  of  English 
law  which  they  thereby  deliberately,  pui'posely  and  expressly  repudiated. 
Their  "  sanguinai-y  code "  was  the  most  humane  body  of  laws  then  extant  in 
Christendom.  Their  simplicity  of  procedure,  disembarrassed  by  a  stroke  of  the 
pen  from  the  incumbrances  of  many  generations,  became  a  model  and  incite- 
ment to  law-reformers  of  other  States.  And,  as  the  argument  of  this  sermon 
shows,  their  penal  legislation  had  a  dignity  of  moral  tone  to  which  the  most 
Advanced  improvements  in  law-reform  have  not  yet  in  all  respects  attained.    A» 


332  THE  OPPROBRIUM  OF  ENGLISH  LAW 

majority  of  our  States  it  must  be  said  that,  following  the 
base  and  demoralizing  tradition  of  English  law,  they 
know  no  such  crime  as  adultery.  Before  the  State  it  is 
innocent.  It  may  give  rise  to  disagreements  between 
citizens,  in  which  the  aggrieved  party  may  assess  the 
value  in  cash  of  the  grievance  which  he  has  suffered,  and 
the   affair  may  be  equitably  settled  by  the  award  of  a 

The  law  of  Maryland  differs  from  that  of  most  of  the 
States ;  for  here  there  is  a  law  against  adultery.  And  the 
penal  law  of  any  State  may  be  taken  as  the  gauge  of  the 
moral  sentiment  of  the  public  towards  the  crimes  therein 
specified  and  prohibited.  According  to  our  code,  the 
penalty  for  murder  in  the  first  degree  is  death  ;  for  murder 
in  the  second  degree,  imprisonment  for  not  less  than  five 
years  ;  for  forgery  and  fatal  duelling  the  penalty  is  not 
less  than  five  years'  imprisonment;  for  larceny  of  property 
more  in  amount  than  five  dollars  there  is  a  penalty  of 
from  one  to  fifteen  years'  imprisonment;  for  the  crime  of 
adultery  the  penalty  is  a  fine  of  teii  dollars.  0,  stern  and 
faithful  government !  0,  magnanimous  legislation  !  O, 
chivalrous  people,  that  know  the  comparative  value  of 
property  and  of  Jwnor — that  punish  the  thief  with  fifteen 
years'  imprisonment,  and  the  adulterer  with  a  ten  dollar 
fine  ! 

It    is    pertinent  to  the  business  in   hand  to  remark, 
incidentally,  that  American  legislation  generally  on  this 

to  the  often  refuted  but  continually  renowed  calumny  about  "  the  Blue  Laws  of 
Conneciicur,"  it  is  a  little  aside  from  our  present  purpose  to  remark  upon  the 
injustice;  of  fixinj?  tlie  odium  of  impertinent  aivd  intrusive  laws  upon  a  State 
whose  statut(-l)ooli.  was  to  be  distinguished  among  those  of  the  rest  of  the 
world  at  tliat  period  for  its  comparative  freedom  from  the  then  universal  fault  of 
»uinptuaiy  legislation. 


THE  OPPROBRIUM  OF  ENGLISH  LAW.  333 

whole  subject  of  crimes  of  lewdness  seems  to  have  been 
affected  by  that  vile  and  corrupting  theory  of  government, 
that  its  sole  function  is  the  protection  of  person  and 
property,  and  that  accordingly  it  has  no  concern  for  the 
care  of  morality.  So  long  as  one  does  not  offend  the 
fastidiousness  of  his  neighbors,  or  hurt  the  value  of 
property, b}^  public  indecencies,  it  is  the  general  disposition 
of  the  law  to  protect  the  libertine  in  his  lawful  right  of 
debauehary,  just  as  it  protects  an}^  other  citizen  in  his 
lawful  pursuit  of  happiness.  Against  the  less  destructive 
and  ruinous  sins  of  lewdness,  most  countries,  even  though 
they  do  not  pretend  to  suppress  them,  nevertheless  record 
their  reprobation  in  laws  which  may  be  enforced  under 
favorable  circumstances  and  against  flagitious  offenders. 
But  in  this  State,  and  in  most  States  besides  those  in  which 
the  precedents  of  the  Puritan  legislation  have  been 
followed,  neither  prostitution  nor  its  correlated  vice  is 
punishable  under  any  circumstances  whatever.  Our  States 
commonly  have  abdicated  this  whole  department  of  govern- 
ment, leaving  this  entire  class  of  crimes  free  of  all  prohibi- 
tion, except  when  they  interfere  with  the  value  of  property. 

Let  me  illustrate  to  you  the  effects  of  this  shameless 
dereliction  of  the  State  to  its  divine  trust  of  government, 
as  exemplified  in  two  facts  which  occurred  to  my  personal 
knowledge  as  a  pastor  in  the  city  of  Brooklyn,  and  which 
might  have  occurred,  for  all  the  law  there  was  to  hinder, 
in  this  city  of  Baltimore. 

The  first  is  that  of  an  affectionate  mother,  a  Christian 
woman,  who  had  learned  by  an  experience  which  I  pray 
that  you  may  never  have  to  suffer — 

"  How  sharper  than  a  sorpent's  tooth  it  is 
To  have  a  thankless  child." 


334  ''HE  OPPROBRIUM  OF  ENGLISH  LAW. 

Once  the  wayward  girl  was  rescued  by  aid  of  the  law 
for  a  brief  time  from  her  wilful  infamy,  for  she  lacked 
yet  a  few  months  of  eighteen  years,  and  the  law  is  zealous 
to  protect  property,  and  the  mother  has  a  pecuniary 
interest  in  the  daughter's  services  till  she  comes  of  age. 
But  the  few  months  pass,  and  she  is  eighteen  years  old, 
and  the  law  strikes  off  from  her  the  hand  of  maternal 
authority  and  lays  on  her  no  compulsion  of  its  own, 
and  from  the  tears  of  her  mother,  and  from  the 
entreaties  of  the  Church  of  Christ  she  goes  forth  under 
the  encouraging  protection  of  the  laws  to  walk  the  way 
whose  steps  take  hold  on  hell.  She  has  a  legal  right  to 
abandon  herself  to  infamy  and  wretchedness ;  a  legal  right 
to  put  herself  in  training  as  a  professional  corrupter  of 
mankind ;  a  legal  right  to  acquire  and  exercise  the  arts  of 
seduction  on  your  suns  and  brothers  and  on  mine;  a  legal 
right  to  enter  that  ghastly  procession  that  is  marching 
nightly  through  your  streets  towards  misery  and  rotten- 
ness and  death  and  hell ;  and  what  has  the  law  to  do  in 
such  a  case  but  to  turn  its  austere  front  towards  the 
mother  with  her  tears,  and  towards  Christian  charity  with 
her  hands  of  love,  that  would  fain  reach  forth  and  snatch 
her  as  from  the  fire,  and  shout  Hands  off.  Shame  on  the 
recreant  State  that  will  not  reinforce  the  pleading  of 
domestic  love  and  Christian  pity  towards  this  wretched 
one  so  much  as  with  one  authoritative  word  or  threat ! 
Shame,  that  you  will  not  give  the  help  of  penal  sanction 
to  the  better  resolution  of  any  tempted  creature  that  is 
struggling  with  besetting  lust!  Go  blush,  0  virtuous 
citizens  and  tribunes  of  the  people,  for  your  ostentatious 
horror  against  the  licensing  of  prostitution,    when  you 


THE  Oi'PKOBlllUM  OF  ENUI.ISII  LAW.  535 

have  no  word  of  protest  against  laws  like  these  that 
proclaim  universal  license,  and  turn  cities  into  brothels  ! 
The  other  case  is  this  :  A  poor  woman  came  to  me, 
sick,  downcast,  heartbroken,  under  the  shadow  of  a  great 
impending  crime,  to  ask  for  counsel.  Her  husband,  whose 
unfaithfulness  she  long  had  known,  had  just  sent  word  to 
her  that  she  should  mend  and  make  ready  his  linen,  and 
pack  his  trunk,  and  that  at  a  certain  hour  he  would  call  for 
it,  as  he  was  intending  to  live  with  a  woman  whom  he 
had  selected  for  his  mistress.  All  day  she  had  sat  among 
her  children,  working  through  her  tears  at  such  a  task  as 
was  ever  a  wife  set  upon  before  ?  and  now  she  had  come 
.to  me  to  ask  if  there  was  no  law  to  hinder  this  awful 
calamity.  I  was  obliged  to  tell  her  No  !  If  she  had  lived 
in  Connecticut,  in  Massachusetts,  in  Ohio,  if  she  had  lived 
almost  anywhere  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  except  in 
England,  or  under  these  traditions  of  English  jurisprudence, 
the  law  would  have  laid  its  hand  on  the  shoulder  of  this 
wretch  at  the  first  thought  of  such  a  deed,  and  warned 
him  that  he  could  venture  on  it  only  at  the  expense  of  the 
penalties  and  pains  of  felony.  But  there  we  had  a  revised 
code,  and  an  advanced  civilization,  and  adultery  is  lawful 
— not  even  punishable  by  a  fine  of  ten  dollars.  And  so 
i  counselled  her  to  go  home  again  and  finish  the  mending 
and  the  packing,  and  meekly  and  gently  and  without 
upbraiding,  to  say  good-bye  to  the  husband  of  her  youth, 
and  make  up  her  mind  to  labor  on  alone  in  her  sickness 
to  support  her  worse  than  orphaned  child^-en,  and  put  her 
trust  in  that  (lod  who,  though  kings  are  false  and  states 
may  cowardly  and  meanly  betray  the  cause  of  the  help- 
less, has  declared  himself  to  be  the  father  of  the  fatherless, 
and   the   widow's  judge.       That    was    New    York    law. 


-336  THE  OPPROBRIUM  OB'  ENGLISH  LAW. 

Maryland  law  is  worse,  by  as  much  as  it  adds  insult  to 
injustice. 

I  have  now  stated  to  you  the  facts  concerning  the  con- 
dition of  law  touching  crimes  against  the  family.  By- 
and-by^  if  there  be  time,  I  may  say  something  concerning 
the  causes  that  have  led  to  the  origination  and  perpetuation 
of  such  a  monstrous  series  of  legislative  abuses.^  But 
just  now  1  ask  3^0 ur  attention  to  the  results ,  immediate 
and  indirect,  of  such  a  condition  of  the  laws. 

1.  I  will  not  insult  your  intelligence  by  citing  facts  to 
prove,  what  no  one  will  doubt,  that  the  abrogation  of  the 
law  against  such  crimes  is  attended  with  vast  increase  of 
them. 

2.  Neither  will  1  argue  with  you  to  show  that  the 
withdrawal  of  the  protest  of  the  penal  law  against  this 
whole  class  of  offences,  and  the  lowering   of  them   to  the 

1,  The  cause  of  them  is  to  be  found  in  the  character  of  the  English  Reforma- 
tion which  conserved  the  medieval  tradition  that,  marria<>:e  being  a  sacrament, 
olfences  against  it  should  be  punished  by  church-discipline.  In  other  European 
countries,  the  Reformation  was  commonly  followed  by  stringent  penal  legisla- 
tion against  adultery,  and  also  (a  correlative  enactment)  by  legal  provision  for 
divorce.  In  England,  until  lately,  there  has  been  neither  the  one  nor  the  other. 
Now,  there  is  the  second  without  the  first. 

The  legislative  purity,  from  amid  wliicli  Roman  Catholic  countries  look  out 
with  horror  on  the  divorce  laws  of  Protestant  States,  is  explained  in  this  way.  It 
is  only  where  the  vh^uluin  matrimonii  actually  binds  in  law,  under  penal 
sanctions,  that  it  l)eeoTnes  a  grave  necessity  to  provide,  in  some  cases,  for 
loosing  not  from  its  moral,  but  from  its  penal  obligations. 

The  outcry  made  in  tlic  name  of  the  Church  against  all  civil  divorce  what- 
ever, is  not  only  against  the  very  letter  of  the  Bible,  but  it  is  against  the  spirit 
of  it.  It  is  founded  on  that  general  notion,  so  foreign  to  the  spirit  of  both 
Testaments,  that  civil  laws  must  be  conformed  to  absolute  morality  instead  of 
to  the  exigencies  of  time  and  place.  The  rebuke  of  divorce  is  no  novelty  of  the 
Cliristian  dispensation.  "  The  Lord  hated  putting  away  "  trom  of  old.  And  yet 
he  provided  for  i  ,  by  a  civil  law  which,  for  the  time,  was  a  good  law.  The 
divorce  provisions  of  the  Mosaic  code,  like  the  mixim  "  Eye  tor  eye  and  tooth 
for  tooth,"  did  not  cease  to  be  right  when  tliey  were  "  not  destroyed  but  filled 
out"  by  Christ;  they  never  were  riglit,  considered  as  a  standard  of  personal 
morality. 


THE  OPPROBRIUM  OF  ENfJLISH  LAW  337 

category  of  personal  difterences,  tends  to  the  demoralization 
of  society,  the  vitiating  of  the  consciences  of  the  people. 
Will  any  one  tell  me  what  is  the  prevalent  tone  of  public 
comment  in  this  community  upon  these  base  and  dreadful 
and  infectious  crimes  ?  Can  any  one  inform  me  how  much 
of  the  staple  evening  reading  of  our  families  is  made  up 
of  the  daily  infamies  that  are  transacted  in  the  community 
drolly  travestied  into  humorous  adventures  by  the  small 
newspaper  wits  who  exercise  their  ribaldry  therein — fooU 
who  make  a  mock  at  sin  ?  But  consider,  0  citizens  who 
groan  and  grumble  at  this  nuisance,  what  excuse  they 
have,  to  whom  the  majesty  of  the  State  itself  has  set  so 
eminent  an  example,  and  whether  it  is  altogether  strange 
that  they  should  better  the  instruction. 

3.  But  the  most  miserable  consequence  of  the  derelic- 
tion of  the  State  in  its  duty  of  punishing  crime,  is  that 
which  is  exemplified  in  that  great  class  of  bloody  assassi- 
nations to  which  a  new  case  has  just  been  added  in  this 
State.  The  sure  and  infallible  result  of  the  abdication  by 
society  of  the  duty  of  punishing  criminals  is  not  that 
crime  becomes  innocence,  and  that  the  consciences  and 
hearts  of  men  are  revolutionized  by  a  stroke  of  reform- 
atory legislation,  and  the  abhorrence  of  the  guilt  abolished 
— but  the  result  is  this,  that  the  exercise  of  punishment, 
which  should  be  firmly  and  temperately  held  by  the  hand 
of  orderly  and  impartial  justice,  is  delivered  over  to  the 
wild  justice  of  the  mob  or  of  the  lynch  court,  or  to  the 
more  frantic  hand  of  private  vengeance.  Where,  tell  me, 
lies  the  safeguard  of  public  order  in  times  of  great  public 
indignation  against  atrocious  crime,  or  of  the  wild  stirring 
of  revenge  for  the  righting  of  a  personal  grievance  ?  Does 
it  lie   in  the   batons  of  a  drilled   constabulary?   in  the 

28 


338  THE  OPPROBRIUM  OP"  ENGLISH  LAW. 

bayonets  of  an  organized  militia?  in  the  squadrons  and 
batteries  of  a  standing  army  ?  No  !  Back  of  all  these  lies 
the  conviction  deep  in  men's  minds  that  the  Government 
may  be  trusted  to  avenge  the  innocent,  to  punish  the 
guilt}",  and  to  vindicate  justice.  This  it  is  which  suffers 
the  accused  criminal  to  sleep  in  safety  in  the  jail,  without 
fear  of  the  mob  which  would  otherwise  tear  him  from  the 
impotent  and  untrustworthy  hands  of  the  law.  This 
speaks  to  the  hasty  and  heady  passion  of  revenge,  and 
says  :  "  Put  up  thy  sword  into  its  sheath,  for  they  who  take 
the  sword  shall  perish  by  the  sword."  Even  Grod  himself 
the  great  Law-giver,  deigns  to  make  appeal  to  this  con- 
fidence in  his  administration  of  justice,  in  order  to  restrain 
the  passions  of  his  subjects,  saying  in  Paul,  "  Dearly 
beloved,  avenge  not  yourselves  but  rather  give  place  to 
wrath  ; " — stand  aside  and  let  the  wrath  of  Grod  have 
course; — "for  it  is  written,  Vengeance  is  mine;  I  will  repay, 
saith  the  Lord."  ^  And  when  human  government  cannot 
make  like  appeal,  armies  and  constabularies  are  of  no 
avail.  The  instinct  of  a  wild  justice  flings  aside  police 
clubs  like  grass,  and  bayonets  like  rotten  wood,  and  leaps 
with  an  irresistible  fury  upon  its  victim.  Who  has  ever 
known  lynch  law  to  prevail,  and  private  revenge  and 
assassination  to  abound,  in  communities  where  strong  and 
faithful  government  is  quick  to  follow  crime  with 
thorough  trial  and  adequate  penalty  ?  Such  acts  as  these 
are  the  opprobrium  of  any  government,  as  it  is  written, 
"  Whosoever  judgeth  his  brother  judgeth  the  law."  The 
murder  of  every  assassinated  malefactor,  of  every  victim 
of  the  hasty  sentence  of  the  lynch  court,  is  recorded  to 
the  shame   of  a  derelict  State.      The   (xovernraent,    tlie 

1.  Romans,  xii,  19. 


THE  OPPROBRIUM  OK  EN(4LISH  LAW.  339 

citizens^  you,  by  your  derelictions,  are  become  accomplices 
with  the  assassin  in  these  deeds  of  blood  ! 

What  now  has  the  State  of  Maryland  to  say  for  the 
security  of  public  order  against  the  instincts  of  private 
revenge  and  public  justice  outraged  by  the  infamous 
-crime  of  the  seducer  or  adulterer  ?  When  forgery  has 
been  tampering  with  your  bank  account,  she  rebukes  your 
headlimg  revenge,  saying  This  is  iiy  business.  She  lays 
her  hand  upon  the  culprit,  and  flings  him  into  a  felon's 
dungeon,  and  clothes  him  in  disgrace  and  casts  him  forth 
from  the  honors  of  the  citizen.  When  murder  has  broken 
into  your  dwelling,  or,  raging  in  the  streets,  has  made  the 
very  stones  to  cry  out  with  the  voice  of  a  brother's  blood, 
•she  stretches  out  her  sword  to  suppress  the  tumult  of  the 
outraged  citizens,  and  points  to  the  gallows  and  the- 
executioner,  saying  "  Vengeance  is  mine."  But  when  lust 
and  adultery  are  neighing  at  your  door,  and  defiling  the 
sanctuary  of  your  home,  despoiling  you  of  treasures  which 
cannot  be  valued  with  gold,  and  embittering  your  life  with 
a  bereavement  such  as  the  clumsy  arts  of  the  murderer 
could  never  have  accomplished — what  has  the  majesty  of 
this  sovereign  State  to  say  to  her  suffering  subject  whose 
bosom  is  boiling  with  grief  and  just  revenge?  What,  but 
to  pat  him  on  the  shoulder  and  tell  him  "  be  quiet,  now  ; 
be  cool  !  There  may  be  money  in  this  thing  if  you  will 
manage  it  right."  0  foolish  people,  hear  the  word  of  Grod, 
if  you  will  not  regard  the  voice  of  your  brother's  blood, 
"  Jealousy  is  the  rage  of  a  man,  therefore  he  will  not 
spare  in  the  day  of  vengeance.  He  will  not  regard  any 
ransom,  neither  will  he  rest  content  though  thou  givest 
many  gifts."  * 

1.  Proverbs,  vi,  34,  35. 


340  THE  OPPROBRIUM  OF  ENGLISH  F^AW. 

No!  No!  Let  not  the  State  that  attempts  to  abrogate 
the  law  of  God  and  erect  adultery  into  a  lawful  act,  think 
that  thereby  it  protects  the  criminal  from  hurt.  It  puts 
him  under  a  law  more  sanguinary  than  the  code  of  Draco. 
It  initiates  from  that  moment  a  common  law  stronger  than 
any  statute,  which  does  more  than  authorize  assassination — 
which  invites  scorn  upon  all  law  and  all  authority — Avhich 
implies  that  the  law  shall  be  affronted,  and  insulted  in 
its  own  courts,  misinterpreted  by  its  own  expounders, 
and  that  juries  are  to  kiss  the  book  to  solemn  oaths,  in 
open  expectation  that  they  shall  perjure  themselves  before 
they  leave  the  box,  and  march  forth  under  the  applause 
of  the  people. 

With  great  clearness  of  statement  the  acute  and  able 
Attorney  General  of  the  State,  in  the  late  trial,  thus 
defined,  in  the  form  of  an  imaginary  statute,  the  principle 
under  which  it  have  must  been  obvious  to  him  that  the 
prisoner  against  whom  he  appeared  was  about  to  be 
acquitted.  Enacted  into  the  form  of  a  law  it  would  read 
thus  :  "  Every  person,  upon  being  informed  that  his  wife, 
daughter  or  sister  has  been  seduced  into  criminal  inter- 
course with  any  man,  shall  be  and  he  is  hereby  constituted 
grand  jury,  court^  petit  jury,  sheriff  and  executioner,  fully 
authorized  and  empowered  upon  such  information  as  he 
may  choose  to  believe,  to  condemn,  and  at  his  convenience, 
and  by  any  means  or  instrument  or  weapon  of  death  he 
may  choose,  to  put  such  man  to  death,  without  a  moment's 
notice  or  warning,  and  this  shall  be  deemed  and  held 
justifiable  homicide."  Against  such  an  enactment,  he  said, 
common  sense  and  common  reason  would  protest. 

Yes  ;  but,  Mr.  Attorney  General  and  citizens  of  Mary- 
land,   tJiat    is  tJia   law.     It    has    not   been   engrossed   on 


THE  OPPROBRIUM  OF  ENGLISH  LAW.  341 

parchment ;  it  has  not  been  codified  and  printed  ;  it  has 
perhaps  not  yet  been  enunciated  from  the  Bench — but  it  is 
the  law;  and  while  the  rest  of  the  statute  and  the  common 
law  continues  as  it  is,  you  may  argue  in  vain  to  break  the 
uninterrupted  series,  if  not  of  judicial  decisions,  at  least 
of  jury  verdicts,  by  which  it  is  sustained.  It  is  a  fierce 
and  cruel  law.  It  is  a  law  that  makes  no  discrimination,, 
as  the  Mosaic  law  does,  between  the  grades  of  these  crimes 
of  impurity  which  it  punishes.  It  is  a  most  ineffective  law, 
atoning  for  the  general  impunity  of  the  worst  crimes  that 
infest  societ}^  by  now  and  then  an  outburst  of  ferocious 
and  deadly  fury.  But  it  is  the  laiVj  for  all  this,  and  will 
continue  to  be,  so  long  as  the  only  alternative  that  you 
have  to  offer  for  it  is  the  more  monstrous  absurdity  of 
such  a  law  than  this  : 

''  Any  person  committing  adultery  shall  on  conviction 
be  punished  only  by  a  fine  of  not  more  than  ten  dollars. 
Seduction,  prostitution  and  all  other  crimes  against  chastity 
and  against  the  peace,  purity  and  honor  of  the  family  shall 
be  free  of  all  punishment,  and  any  person  committing  thenj 
shall  be  protected  by  the  power  of  the  State  from  all 
violence,  damage  or  annoyance  which  may  be  attempted 
in  consequence  against  his  person  or  estate,  whether  by 
personal  or  by  public  vengeance,  and  shall  be  eligible  as 
before  to  all  offices  of  honor  and  emolument." 

The  learned  Attorney  (xeneral  is  right.  The  existence 
of  a  common  law  such  that,  the  moment  he  frames  it  coolly 
into  the  form  of  a  statute,  it  is  recognized  as  abhorrent 
to  common  sense  and  natural  equity,  is  possible  only 
where  its  non-existence  would  imply  a  fouler  scandal,  a 
more  crying  injustice. 

I  do  not  undertake  to  say  whether  or  not  the  existence 


342  THE  OPPROBRIUM  OF  ENGLISH  LAW. 

of  the  private  vendetta  is  the  rig-ht  course  for  the  individual 
in  such  cases.  I  leave  that  an  open  question.  It  is  an 
open  question  whether,  when  Grovernment  abdicates  its 
function  of  the  punishment  of  crime,  society  is  not  re- 
manded, of  necessity,  to  the  old  savage  Law  of  the 
Wilderness,  by  which  the  next  of  kin  is  appointed  to  the 
solemn  office  of  Goel  or  blood-avenger — plaintiff,  witness, 
judge,  jury,  sheriff,  executioner  all  in  one;  whether  by 
the  constitutional  law  of  all  human  society,  older  than  all 
statutes  and  precedents,  paramount  to  all  written  charters 
and  constitutions,  the  aggrieved  person,  blinded  as  he  is 
by  frantic  rage,  does  not,  nevertheless,  carry  in  his  hand 
a  death-warrant  signed  and  sealed  by  the  hand  of  God : 
whether  you  have  not  gone  back,  I  do  not  say  to  the 
Mosaic  code,  with  its  humane  and  just  provisions  of  the 
right  of  sanctuary,  but  to  the  law  of  the  heathen  Moabite 
and  Amorite. 

But  my  concern  at  present  is  not  with  the  duty  of  the 
individual,  but  with  the  duty  of  the  State — of  you,  0  fellow 
citizens,  who  are  the  State.  This  is  a  political  sermon y  and 
nothing  else,  in  the  sense  in  which  that  is  not  a  contra- 
diction in  terms.  It  is  intended  to  set  forth  the  law  of  God, 
not  destroyed,  biit  restored  and  completed  in  the  Gospel, 
in  its  application  to  you  in  j^our  duty  as  Christian  citizens. 
1  will  not  affect  to  force  a  spiritual  application  of  the 
subject  as  an  apology  for  bringing  it  into  the  pulpit.  It 
needs  no  apology.  The  subject  belongs  here  by  divine  right. 

I  must  cease,  leaving  many  important  things  unsaid. 
I  wish  there  were  time  to  recite  that  curious  passage  in 
the  history  of  English  and  American  jurisprudence  which 
furnishes  an  explanation,  and  in  some  measure  an  apology, 
for   the   strange   disorganization   of  law   concerning   this 


THE  OPPROBKU^M  OF  ENGLISH  r>AW.  343 

matter.  Eiit  1  find  that  I  must  be  satisfied  with  having 
set  before  you  the  considerations  of  present  fact  and  present 
duty.  Suffer  me  only^  in  conclusion,  to  repeat,  what  I  trust 
you  will  lay  to  heart  and  conscience,  that  before  (xod  tho 
responsibility  for  all  these  accumulating  assassinations 
rests  upon  the  State  and  the  body  of  its  citizens,  and  that 
by  just  so  far  as  you  fail  in  the  execution  of  that  royal 
trust  with  which  God  has  invested  you,  the  trust  of 
righteous  government,  your  brothers'  blood  will  be  upon 
your  heads  and  upon  your  children's. 


Geneva 

CONTINENT   AND  SWISS    TIMES  "    PKESS 

1877. 


